(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden warned House Democrats in a private meeting Thursday at the Capitol that his presidency and their own political fortunes depend on them passing his multi-trillion-dollar economic agenda.
“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week,” Biden told the lawmakers, according to two people in the room and a third person familiar with the remark.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president traveled to the Capitol to urge the Democrats to break a deadlock over a pair of bills that comprise his economic policy, a $550 billion Senate-passed public works measure and a package of tax increases and climate and social-welfare measures he calls “Build Back Better.”
The latter bill would spend about $1.75 trillion, offset by tax increases and other revenue measures totaling about $2 trillion, according to a White House fact sheet.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.