Biden tells lawmakers he'll push for pathway to citizenship for millions in sweeping economic package

President Joe Biden reiterated his support for a Democratic effort to include immigration policy in his multi-trillion anti-poverty package, assuring a group of lawmakers on Thursday that he would stand by them in their push to see a pathway to citizenship for millions signed into law.

"He knows the challenges we face. He's with us. He made it clear to us, unequivocally clear," Sen. Richard Durbin, the second-ranked Democrat in the Senate, said after a meeting with Biden in the Oval Office over the next steps for providing a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. Securing Biden's vocal -- and regular -- support is a critical piece of the effort by Democratic lawmakers to seize on an opportunity to include long-sought immigration policy priorities without needing Republican support. Several Democrats have gone as far as to say the inclusion of those proposals in the nascent $3.5 trillion budget proposal is essential for their overall support of the legislation, which will include key planks of Biden's agenda to direct hundreds of billions of dollars into education, home and child care and more robust and expansive paid leave proposals.