Pelosi Says 'we're Almost There' On Huge US Legislative Bills

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Oct, 2021 ) :After months of fierce political wrangling, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she expects agreement on a huge social spending package and a vote on a cross-party infrastructure bill this week, adding: "We're almost there." President Joe Biden had been intent on securing passage of the two mega-measures -- which Democrats see as vital to their party's political hopes in midterm elections next year -- before he leaves for a climate summit in Glasgow that opens October 31.

Asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether the agreement on the spending package and votes on infrastructure could occur in the coming week, Pelosi replied, "that's the plan." And on the spending package specifically, which has divided progressive and moderate Democrats, she sounded particularly optimistic.

"I think we're pretty much there now," she said. "We're almost there. It's just the language of it." Pelosi's comments came as Biden was to meet at his home in Delaware with Joe Manchin, one of the two Senate Democrats whose resistance to the president's big Build Back Better social program had proved a major stumbling block.

There was no immediate indication of how that meeting -- also attended by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer -- went.

But Biden himself had expressed optimism on Thursday during a televised town-hall appearance, saying, "I do think I'll get a deal."