Biden pressures Congress to advance his economic agenda 'right now' in wake of positive jobs report

Well, you heard the man.

During Friday remarks on the October jobs report, President Biden issued what CNN has called "one of his most explicit public exhortations" yet for Democrats to immediately pass his sweeping economic agenda, legislation that has, for weeks, been languishing in congressional purgatory.

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House Democrats have said they are close — but not quite there yet — on advancing both the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure framework and the party's spending package, which they had long asked to move through the chamber together. Now, though leaders believed a vote to be imminent, a handful of House moderates are vowing to "vote against the massive social safety net bill without further guarantees on offsetting its cost," Politico writes. Even then, the $1.75 trillion bill could face another uphill battle upon its arrival to the evenly-split Senate.

The passage of both bills is just another way the country can ensure the "recovery is fully felt," Biden explained Friday, noting he was about to do some lobbying himself. "I'm gonna be headed over there very quickly -- shortly after I do this press conference -- back to my office to make some calls."

Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.