HOWELL, Oct 6 — President Joe Biden delivered a stark warning of American decline Tuesday in a speech urging Congress to vote through his ambitious infrastructure and social spending packages or lose out to the likes of China.
Facing a rift in his own party — which controls Congress with the narrowest of majorities — and a Republican opposition aggressively blocking where it can, Biden hopes that appealing to Americans outside of Washington will give his agenda new life. “We led the world in research and development but then something happened. We slowed up,” Biden said. “We risk losing our edge as a nation.”
Democrats are divided essentially between moderates and progressives on the size and speed of the spending proposals, with Biden trying to bridge the gap. The social support bill is already being whittled down from the progressives’ previous demand for a US$3.5 trillion price tag.