Price tag shrinks but stakes grow as Biden presses for deal: The Note

Even as the massive social spending bill Democrats and President Biden are pushing shrinks, the stakes for him and his party have managed to grow.

The TAKE with Rick Klein

President Joe Biden is now talking publicly about a social-spending bill with a price tag of $1.75 trillion -- half of the $3.5 trillion he initially sought, and further still from the $6 trillion that marked the initial progressive ask.

Yet even as the bill shrinks, the stakes for Biden and his party have managed to grow. The measure is being touted as an answer to employment gaps, rising gas prices and supply-chain disruptions, in addition to its original sweeping goals of grappling with climate change and working toward economic fairness.

It's also now seen as a way -- perhaps the last and best way -- for the Democratic Party to unify and rediscover some motivation in time for the midterms.