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Democratic lawmakers are swiftly cutting back their spending on the Build Back Better agenda after President Biden made clear to progressive lawmakers that the package will spend far less than they had hoped on key priorities. Progressive and centrist Democrats alike say a new reality is setting in after weeks of stalemate over the shape and size of the social spending bill, which had also brought work on an infrastructure measure passed by the Senate to an impasse. (Bolton, 10/20)

In an abrupt change, the White House on Wednesday floated new plans to pay for parts of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion social services and climate change package, shelving a proposed big increase in corporate tax rates though also adding a new billionaires’ tax on the investment gains of the very richest Americans. The reversal came as Biden returned to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to highlight the middle class values he says are at the heart of the package that Democrats are racing to finish. Biden faces resistance from key holdouts, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who has not been on board with her party’s plan to undo Trump-era tax breaks to help pay for it. (Mascaro, Superville and Fram, 10/21)

As he tries to steer his party toward a vast, once-in-a-generation investment in social programs, President Biden is paring back his ambitions for clean energy, access to college and help for families. The president proposed abandoning his signature campaign promise of two years of free community college, according to people who attended White House meetings with Democratic lawmakers and others who had been briefed on them. He conceded that negotiators would dump a clean electricity program spurned by Senate centrists. He raised the idea of limiting an extension of payments to families with children to one year. And he said the length of federal paid leave could shrink. (Shear, Cochrane and Tankersley, 10/20)

For weeks, President Biden has met repeatedly with Democratic lawmakers as part of the tortuous negotiations over his agenda — but to the frustration of many, he has revealed few opinions of his own on what should remain in the plan and what should be jettisoned. This week, however, Biden is doing something new: getting specific and plunging into details, telling lawmakers exactly what he thinks needs to go into the package that could define his presidency. (Linskey, Sullivan and Viser, 10/20)

Senate Democrats are considering abandoning central tax elements of their social policy and climate package, as a key senator continues to oppose any increase in marginal rates for businesses, high-income individuals or capital gains, according to people familiar with the matter. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) has previously told lobbyists that she is opposed to any increase in those rates, according to a person familiar with her remarks, but her stance is now pushing Democrats to plan more seriously for a bill that doesn’t include those major revenue increases. (Duehren, Rubin and Peterson, 10/20)

Democrats are considering cutting housing funding in President Joe Biden's massive social spending plan to $100 billion, roughly a third of the initial amount proposed as they try to lower the cost of the bill, congressional aides said. The potential cuts are fueling resentment among progressives, who are fighting to preserve programs proposed in what was originally a $3.5 trillion plan as centrists such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) try to slash the size of the bill. (O'Donnell and Cassella, 10/20)

Key Senate Democrats used a hearing Wednesday to push back on the argument that expanding Medicare to include dental and vision coverage would bankrupt the program — a not-so-subtle message for Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who has said he opposes the expansion on those grounds and who remains a key vote for any major legislation. Senate Democrats are hoping to expand Medicare coverage to include dental, vision, and hearing coverage as part of their massive social spending package — but the West Virginia senator suggested in September that he wants to shore up the program’s long-term solvency first. (Osman, 10/20)

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, sent a letter to congressional leaders Wednesday asking that they pass paid family and medical leave, arguing that comprehensive leave should be a “national right, rather than a patchwork option.” In the letter, addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the duchess made clear that she was writing not as a politician but “as a mom.” ...The duchess, who grew up in Los Angeles, recounted the challenges her parents faced while trying to make ends meet. She started working at 13, she said, “to cover odds and ends.” “I grew up on the $4.99 salad bar at Sizzler — it may have cost less back then (to be honest, I can’t remember) — but what I do remember was the feeling: I knew how hard my parents worked to afford this because even at five bucks, eating out was something special, and I felt lucky,” she wrote. (Alfaro, 10/20)