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We'll start in Washington, D.C., though. It's traditional that after giving a State of the Union speech or annual messages we saw last week, a U.S. president hits the road. The leader spent time at rallies and events to meet with supporters and to try to drum up support for the proposals outlined in the speech.
President Joe Biden is doing that now. He's released two major economic plans. One is titled the American Families Plan and the other is the American Jobs Plan. The first one include more childcare programs, free preschool, free community college. The second one includes spending on roads and bridges and new climate centered programs.
Together, the two plans would cost almost $4 trillions and they got to get through Congress first. This branch of government controls the purse strings, and even though the president's fellow Democrats have the majority of votes in both chambers, it's a slim majority, especially in the Senate with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, would be the tie breaking vote if there's a 50-50 Senate split.
At this point, it's not clear if the president's proposals have enough congressional support to pass. It's not clear if there's enough agreement on how to pay for them, and it's not clear if they'll get any support from Republicans who released an infrastructure plan of their own.
One thing lawmakers might do is break up the president's large proposals to pass smaller chunks that can get support from both parties. The process is expected to take months.
