Biden to meet with Schumer and Manchin in Delaware for more talks on social spending package
CBSN
Washington — President Biden will meet with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin in Delaware on Sunday as Democrats look to broker an agreement on the president's social spending plan, a person familiar with the gathering confirmed to CBS News.
Democrats are working to reach consensus on a framework for Mr. Biden's domestic policy agenda, which will require support from Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both moderate senators who objected to the package's initial $3.5 trillion price tag.
But there is daylight between Manchin and Democratic leaders over the topline number, as the West Virginia senator has said he supports a $1.5 trillion plan, while Mr. Biden set a price range for the legislation at roughly $2 trillion. In addition to trimming the social spending package, Democrats are also hashing out the details of how to pay for it, as the White House faced resistance from Sinema over its plan to raise the corporate tax rate and top income rate rate for the wealthiest Americans.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.