Democrats to cut free community college from Biden Build Back Better

Chunks of the sprawling Democratic economic plan appeared in peril Wednesday as the party struggled to win the votes to pass it.

Lawmakers signaled they could have to scrap entire programs to slash costs from a package they have billed as the biggest boon for working families in decades. The core measures proposed to pay for the plan — tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest Americans — also faced the prospect of falling to the wayside as Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., opposes the hikes, sources told CNBC.

The developments add to the political maze Democrats have to navigate in trying to push the proposal through with narrow majorities in Congress in the coming weeks. The party has negotiated for weeks as it tries to appease the centrists Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., along with dozens of House progressives.

Democratic leaders have moved to cut the plan’s cost and revise the measures it will use to pay for it in order to win votes. Amid a rush of talks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he wants to strike a deal this week.

“There was universal agreement in that room that we have to come to an agreement and we’ve got to get it done, we want to get it done this week,” he told reporters Tuesday after a lunch with Senate Democrats.

Asked Wednesday if Democrats could reach a deal on a framework this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “it’s possible.”

During a series of meetings with Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday, President Joe Biden floated a $1.75 trillion to $1.9 trillion price tag for his proposal to expand the social safety net and curb climate change, a source told CNBC. As the party tries to cut back its initial $3.5 trillion plan, Democrats are set to remove a provision that would offer two free years of community college.

“It looks like that’s probably going to be out,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said after meeting with the president.

Free community college is expected to join at least one other policy on the chopping block: a $150 billion program to encourage utility companies to switch to renewable energy. Democrats will likely drop the plan due to opposition from Manchin, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who represents a coal-producing state and has a personal financial stake in the industry.

The party will also consider extending the enhanced child tax credit for one year, NBC News reported. Many Democrats had pushed to keep the policy in place for up to five years — or even make it permanent.

Asked Wednesday about reports that Democrats would cut the community college provision or scale back the child tax credit extension, Pelosi said, “I don’t know where that stuff even came from.” The California Democrat added that scaling back the…