Progressives think Biden's latest $1.8T families plan isn't big enough

Progressives on Wednesday viewed President Biden's latest spending plan on families as a good start, but said the $1.8 trillion proposal is still too small to provide a necessary safety net for the American public. 

New York Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, a major backer of the expanded child tax credit, said Biden's proposal fell short because he failed to permanently extend the payment to parents. "The American Families Plan is incomplete without a permanent child tax credit," Torres told Fox News Wednesday. "We are in the midst of an FDR moment, which comes only once a century. If we let our FDR moment pass us by, without making the child tax credit permanent, we will live to regret it." Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the leader of the House Progressive Caucus, had previously led an effort with more than 80 House Democrats to urge Biden to include an expansion of Medicare in his family-focused spending proposal. But Biden's plan didn't do anything to lower the Medicare eligibility age as they requested, and Jayapal said that's the "wrong approach."