Biden Continues Call for Build Back Better, Says Bill Could be Passed in 'Pieces'

President Biden Holds A Press Conference At The White House

(Photo : Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: U.S. President Joe Biden talks to reporters during a news conference in the East Room of the White House on January 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. With his approval rating hovering around 42 percent, Biden is approaching the end of his first year in the Oval Office with inflation soaring, COVID-19 raging and his legislative agenda stalled on Capitol Hill.

United States President Joe Biden continues to express his support for the Build Back Better bill, arguing that many Americans are also in favor of the legislation, and said that it could be passed in pieces.

In response during a press conference on Wednesday, Biden said that the American people "overwhelmingly" agree with him on prescription drugs. He claimed that citizens of the United States were also on his side regarding early education. The Democratic leader's remarks were an answer to a question of whether he will be scaling back his agenda to allow it to pass through Congress.

Biden's Build Back Better

The U.S. president argued that the ideas present in his Build Back Better legislation still remained politically popular. Biden said that the issue was only a matter of him speaking to Americans to "make the case" for what Democrats are working towards ahead of this year's midterm elections.

Biden added that he would go out to the public to make the "contrast as clear as we can" between his and the agenda of the GOP. The president argued that there was nothing unrealistic about what his party was demanding, Fox News reported.

The U.S. president said that the bill will most likely have to be broken up into pieces for it to be passed by Congress. During the Wednesday press conference, Biden said that he was confident he could get pieces or large parts of the bill signed into law.

It was in December last year when Biden's signature proposal was blocked after Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has continued to oppose the legislation by not supporting it. In order for the president's massive $1.75 trillion House-passed bills to be signed into law, it needs the support of every single Senate Democrat.

The U.S. president has said that he has already been talking to a number of his colleagues in Congress. Biden said he believes he can win the required support for more than $500 billion in spending to combat climate change, CNBC reported.

Pass in Pieces

During the press conference, Biden said he would not be negotiating against himself as to what should and shouldn't be in the bill. The Democrat said they would work on passing some parts now and come back and fight for the others at a later date.

Biden noted that there were two people in the Democratic party who were opposed to some parts of the bill, a reference to Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. However, the U.S. president said that the two senators would most likely agree with some of the parts of the legislation.

Later on, Biden acknowledged that the extension of the child tax credit and funding for the cost of community college will face difficulty in passing. Biden's cornerstone proposal, the Build Back Better legislation, includes spending on programs such as the advanced child tax credit, investments in early education, money for programs to fight against climate change, and health care provisions, and has faced numerous opposition from both parties, The Hill reported.