US President Joe Biden plans to take his Build Back Better "roadshow" to Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger's swing district in Virginia on Thursday, Axios has reported.
The president's reported trip to the state is part of Biden's efforts to deliver on his promise last month "to go out and sell his BBB proposals more aggressively", according to the news outlet.
Axios noted that the US president's visit to Virginia "matters" because Abigail Spanberger was "one of the most pointed critics of Biden's sweeping social agenda after their party was thumped in statewide elections" in November 2021, when Republican Glenn Youngkin was elected Virginia governor.
In a statement at the time, Spanberger stressed that she had "long championed many provisions found in the Build Back Better Act — including lowering prescription drug prices and capping insulin costs, extending the refundable Child Tax Credit for Central Virginia families, and tackling the climate crisis with the urgency it requires".
According to her: "If done right", the BBB "can truly level the playing field for America's working families and seniors".
"However, this bill is not the final version of this legislation. As we work to get a final bill to the president's desk, I will be working with members of the US Senate to improve this legislation — including adding necessary language to tackle the crisis at our southern border, assessing the bill's financial impacts on everyday families and our overall economy, and ensuring the final Build Back Better Act can deliver results directly to the people of Central Virginia", Spanberger stated.
The BBB is perceived by some as an almost dead document, not least to strong opposition to the legislation by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).
In December, Manchin told Fox News that he had "tried everything" in his negotiations with the White House and President Biden, but could not bring himself to vote for the bill in its current form amid fears over its inflationary impact, and the added burden it would place on the country's $29 trillion national debt.
The package has already been trimmed several times so that it could sit well with every Democratic lawmaker, and from the initial $3 trillion designated for social spending the BBB shrank to some $1.7 trillion.
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats promised that the party would "keep voting on" the legislation "until we get something done", while White House spokesperson Jennifer Psaki promised that the president would "work like hell to get it [the BBB] done".