Biden meets CEOs of GM, Carrier, urges Congress to pass drug, tax bill

U.S. President Joe Biden met Thursday with labor leaders and CEOs from General Motors, Carrier, Kaiser Permanente and other companies to discuss the economic impacts of the drug, climate and tax bill recently introduced by Democrats. "Pass it.

U.S. President Joe Biden met Thursday with labor leaders and CEOs from General Motors, Carrier, Kaiser Permanente and other companies to discuss the economic impacts of the drug, climate and tax bill recently introduced by Democrats.

"Pass it. Pass it, get it to my desk, pass it for the American people. Pass it for businesses and workers. Pass it for America," Biden said of the $430-billion bill introduced July 27, which has yet to get any Republican support. Biden hosted GM's Mary Barra, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, United Auto Workers president Ray Curry, CEO of healthcare company Kaiser Permanente Greg Adams, and the top officials from Ameren, Carrier and Cummins, to talk about how the bill would impact their companies and workers.

The bill will help unions "reshape the future," Shuler said, while reducing costs for families. "This is going to deliver fundamental economic change across America," she said. The bill introduced by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer aims to fight climate change with electric vehicle and manufacturing credits and cut drug costs, while making big companies pay more in federal taxes.

It is just a fraction of the size of Biden's original multi-trillion spending proposal. If it does not get Republican support, Democrats hope it will pass using the "reconcilation" process which relies on a simple majority to make laws. Five former U.S. Treasury secretaries - four Democrats and one Republican - said this week that the bill would reduce costs for middle-class families, and would not increase taxes for any family making less than $400,000/year.