House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that elected officials in her party may reach a compromise next week on the content of broad reforms that Joe Biden is coveting.
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Like Economy Secretary Janet Yellen, Pelosi on Sunday also raised the possibility that these reforms could be financed in part through a tax on assets owned by the richest people in the United States.
“We’re almost done,” the official told CNN, also responding to “that’s what’s planned,” when asked if the deal would be reached in the week.
She also said, “We have agreement on 90% of the project, we just have some final decisions to make.”
Joe Biden on Sunday morning received Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer at his Delaware residence, and Senator Joe Manchin, one of the elected Democrats opposed to parts of the social reform project.
The White House described the interview with Mr. Manchin as a “productive discussion”. “They have continued to move forward, will have their teams work for the rest of the meeting and have agreed to remain in close contact,” he informed the White House.
To fund the project, Pelosi said Sunday that “we will probably tax the rich,” stressing that this option is still under discussion among Democratic senators. At best it will finance 10% of the project, the person in charge indicated.
Ms Yellen later clarified on CNN that the proposal that Ms. Pelosi was referring to is that of Senator Ron Wyden. It plans to tax capital gains generated each year, but not cashed out, through liquid assets held by billionaires, those that can be quickly converted into cash like stocks.
“I wouldn’t call it a tax on the rich,” Yellen said. “But this will make it easier to make capital gains that are a very important part of the income of the richest people that are not currently taxed” until they are sold, she added.
The proposal would affect people with more than $1 billion in assets or more than $100 million in income over three years, or fewer than 1,000 American taxpayers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US President on Thursday expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of a deal in Congress to move forward with his social reform and infrastructure plan.
The sums were planned in an effort to bring together all parties of the Democratic Party.
During the week, Joe Biden led intense negotiations with reluctant elected officials in which he agreed to drastically cut spending on social and climate measures.
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona Senator Kirsten Senema, centrist Democrats, have the equivalent of vetoing these projects in the face of the very weak majority of Senate Democrats.
The US president initially wanted to vote for a $3.5 trillion 10-year program to improve health care, education, and early childhood. During discussions within his party, this amount was reduced to about 2000 billion.
Another $1.2 trillion program includes investments to upgrade infrastructure.