Internal fights over the price tag for President Joe Biden 's economic package brought on Senate rules amid GOP opposition h...
Internal fights over the price tag for President Joe Biden's economic package brought on Senate rules amid GOP opposition have left the public knowing very little about what his (shrinking) $3.5 trillion package would do.
After months of wrangling over the size and makeup of the package – which would fund paid leave, pre-K, seek to lower prescription drug costs, and tack new benefits onto Medicare – just a tenth of the country knows a lot about what's in it.
Another third say they have a 'general sense and some specifics,' according to a A CBS News / YouGov poll released Sunday.
Fewer, 28 per cent, say they have a 'general sense' of what's in the bill without knowing specifics, with 29 per cent saying they don't know what is in it – meaning a majority don't know any specifics about the president's signature plan.
A majority don't know any specifics about what is in Biden's plan, according to a CBS/YouGov poll
Just 10 per cent of Americans knows a lot about what's inside President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Plan, amid a focus on the price tag and tax hikes on the wealthy to pay for its programs
What the broader public has absorbed is a fight about the top-line number – amid a standoff between caucus leaders and a sliver of centrist Democrats who want to trim the $3.5 trillion overall number.
Asked what they have heard about it, 59 per cent said the cost, 58 per cent said tax hikes on the wealthy, 40 per cent said lower Medicare drug prices, and 40 per cent said new dental and hearing coverage for the federal drug program for the elderly.
Other lesser known provisions establish paid leave, provide pre-K support, and extend a child-tax credit.
Democratic leaders opted to put all their top priorities into a 'reconciliation' bill that is protected from a Senate GOP filibuster.
It is their best or only chance to enact much of it – but the move gives leverage to any of the Senate's 50 Democrats who don't want to go along.
Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kysten Sinema of Arizona have been the chief holdouts. Sinema went to the White House four times in a single week in an effort to negotiate with Biden and his team.
It all comes amid dropping poll numbers for Biden amid problems muscling through his economic agenda, a surge in coronavirus cases, and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
There has been intense media focus on the push by Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to try to whittle down the cost of the plan
With his key items still stuck, Biden was spending most of Monday in Wilmington on the holiday weekend, with plans to return to the White House in the late afternoon.
Biden attended Sunday Mass with his grandchildren Finnegan, Hunter and Natalie Biden at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware, as his approval ratings saw a nosedive to 38 percent.
Biden, who is the second U.S. president after John F. Kennedy to practice the Catholic faith, regularly attends Mass with his family. He was seen out on Sunday with Finnegan, 21, a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate and daughter of Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle, and siblings Natalie, 17, and Hunter II, 15, both children of the late Beau Biden and his wife Hallie.
Democrats put their top priorities inside a 'reconciliation' bill protected from a Republican filibuster. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) used a similar move to the Trump tax cuts through the Senate
Finnegan beamed as she embraced Hunter while they left church, while the other members of the first family appeared contemplative as they walked through the cemetery at Saint Joseph.
The outing came days after a poll that showed 53 percent of voters saying they disapprove of how Biden has handled the presidency, according to a Quinnipiac University survey.
Despite those results, however, Biden’s approval rating sat at 50 percent according to another poll released Sunday by CBS and YouGov.
President Joe Biden was seen with his grandchildren Finnegan (second-from-left), 21, and Natalie Biden, 17, on Sunday, attending Mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware
Biden was seen in public following a Friday poll that revealed his approval ratings had dropped to 38 percent. He regularly attends church with his family and was out with Finnegan on Natalie on Sunday
Biden and his grandchildren walked through the cemetery at Saint Joseph on Sunday morning
Just over half of voters said they disapprove of how Biden has handled the presidency, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University on Friday
According to their poll, which interviewed 2,054 Americans, 20 percent said they ‘strongly approve’ of Biden’s performance, 29 percent said they ‘somewhat approve,’ 12 percent said they ‘somewhat disapprove’ and 38 percent said they ‘strongly disapprove.’
Broken down by party, 85 percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s performance and just 15 percent disapprove. This almost exactly contrasts Biden’s approval ratings with Republicans with 11 percent approving and 89 percent disapproving of his presidency. Biden had just below average ratings with Independents with 44 percent that approve and 56 percent that disapprove.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki pinned at least part of the blame on Biden's plummeting approval ratings on the pandemic and the 20 percent of unvaccinated Americans.
'So what do you make of these really terrible polls? Are they that he's doing something wrong. Is it just the communication? Or is it that he's doing unpopular things that just have to be done?' a reporter asked at her daily press briefing on Friday.
Psaki replied: 'Well, look, I would say that this is a really tough time in our country. We're still battling COVID and a lot of people thought we'd be through it - including us.
'Because of the rise of the Delta variant, because of the fact that even though it was a vaccine that was approved under a Republican administration, even though we now have full FDA approval and even though it's widely available across the country we still have a quarter of the country - less than that, 20 percent of the country - who've decided not to get vaccinated.
'No question that's having an impact,' Psaki said, adding that, 'as the President has said, the buck stops with him' before signing off.
Three weeks ago, the same poll found that 42 percent approved and 50 percent disapproved of Biden's job as president.
Quinnipiac poll from October 1-4 shows the President's most recent approval ratings\
In the latest poll on Sunday, 32 percent of Independents approve of Biden while 60 percent disapprove. Four percent of Republicans approve - 94 percent disapprove. Still, 80 percent of Democrats approve of the president's job overall and 10 percent disapprove.
Biden received his lowest marks on immigration, where only 25 percent approve and 67 percent disapprove, and also received low marks on his 'first love,' foreign policy, where only 34 percent approved and 58 percent disapproved.
Of his job as commander-in-chief, 37 percent approved, 58 percent disapproved, according to the poll.
Roughly three in 10 Americans – 28 percent – agreed with Biden's decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan, while 50 percent think the US should have withdrawn some troops but not all troops and 15 percent think the US should not have withdrawn any troops from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Congress remains at an impasse at the sweeping spend plans that will define his presidency and the threat of debt default loom.
At the same time Biden received the worst jobs report of his presidency. Earlier today he urged Americans to look at the bigger picture, pushing his infrastructure bill and trillion-dollar package of social programs.
'If you take a look at the trend itself, on average 600,000 new jobs created every month since I took office,' Biden said.
Biden, who is the second U.S. president after John F. Kennedy to practice the Catholic faith, regularly attends Mass with his family. He and his grandchildren were seen leaving Sunday Mass at Saint Joseph
Finnegan Biden (left) embraced her cousin Hunter Biden II, 15, as Natalie followed and their grandfather trailed behind
Bets buds! Finnegan threw her arms around Hunter II as Biden stood beside them and Natalie stayed close behind
Hunter II (left), Finnegan, Joe Biden and Natalie appeared contemplative as they exited church
'In total, job creation in the first eight months of my administration is nearly 5million jobs. Now that's progress,' he added.
But just 194,000 jobs were added to the payroll in September, falling far short of the 500,000 that were expected, and offering one of the most dismal outlooks from a US jobs report all year.
Monthly job growth so far in 2021 has averaged 561,000. Supply chain bottlenecks and COVID-19 contributed to the unimpressive numbers.
But Biden argued the country is making 'consistent steady progress'.
'If you take a step back, look at what's happening, we're actually making real progress. Maybe doesn't seem fast enough - I'd like to see it faster,' he said, adding that 'we're making consistent steady progress'.
He also argued that the declining unemployment rate meant the country was moving forward as it grappled with its economic recovery from the COVID pandemic.
'Unemployment rate down 4.8 percent, a significant improvement from when I took office and the sign that our recovery is moving forward,' he said.
He did not respond to questions from reporters after he made his remarks.
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