Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden left Tuesday for a swing district in Michigan to try to bridge the divide in his Democratic party over an ambitious social spending and infrastructure program stuck in Congress.
Unable to get his feuding party to agree in Washington, Biden was traveling to Howell, Michigan, where he will give a speech at a union training center.
The venue, in a toss-up district won by Donald Trump during the 2020 presidential election, was chosen to demonstrate Biden's attempt to appeal to the center.
He is expected to meet with congressional Representative Elissa Slotkin, one of the moderate Democrats baulking at the size and speed of the spending bills under debate.
Before leaving Washington, Biden held a virtual meeting with a group of other moderates.On Monday he did the same with a group representing the more leftist wing of the party.
The White House said that Monday's meeting was "constructive" and that they "discussed their shared commitment to seizing this moment to make investing in families the heart of our economic growth and competitiveness strategy."
Democrats control Congress but with such a narrow majority that a handful of members can instantly derail the president's initiatives.For Biden, time is running out to pass big legislation before the focus turns to next year's midterm congressional elections, where most analysts expect to see Republicans regain control of at least one house of Congress.
At stake is a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and a much bigger plan to rebuild the tattered social support system and fight climate change.The initial figure under discussion for that bill was $3.5 trillion, but with moderates making clear they will not go that far, Biden is pushing for something in the range of $2 trillion.
The internal party wrangling comes at the same time as a row with congressional Republicans over lifting the permitted national debt limit, risking the first-ever US default.
