House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds weekly press conference at the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C., United States on October 21, 2021.
Yasin Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Democrats are close to finalizing an agreement on the social safety net plan that would allow for the bipartisan infrastructure bill to move forward.
“We have 90% of the bill agreed to and written, we just have some of the last decisions to be made,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
When asked if Democrats will have a deal by the time President Joe Biden leaves for Europe at the end of the week, Pelosi seemed confident. “I think we’re pretty much there now,” she said. “It’s just the language of it.”
Top Democrats have held a slew of talks in recent days to try and get centrists and progressives to sign off on a sprawling plan to invest in child care, paid leave, education, health care and climate policy. The party has to resolve disputes, like what to include in the package and how to pay for it, before it finalizes an outline.
Democrats have already had to cut its price tag from $3.5 trillion to $2 trillion or less, as part of an effort to appease centrist Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.
“It is less than what was projected to begin with, but it is still bigger than anything we’ve done in terms of addressing the needs of American working families,” Pelosi said.
“Nonetheless, the point is to reach a goal,” she added.
—CNBC’s Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
