Democrats rush to reach deal on social spending plan before Biden trip to Europe

Washington — With President Biden set to leave Washington for a trip to Europe later this week, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are racing to broker an agreement on his multi-trillion-dollar social spending package and settle splits among their conference over paid leave, an expansion of Medicare benefits and the means of paying for the legislation.

House Democrats met behind closed doors Tuesday amid the ongoing negotiations over a framework for Mr. Biden's proposal to expand a slew of social programs, and the president is poised to huddle with lawmakers at the White House to discuss moving his domestic policy agenda forward, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

But divisions remain among Democrats over key aspects of the legislation, complicating Democratic leaders' goals of reaching a deal on the details of the package before Mr. Biden leaves the country to attend a Group of 20 conference in Rome and a United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, known as COP26.