>> the house returns shortly at 6:30 p.m. eastern to vote on bills debated earlier today. over at the white house president biden met separately with progressive and moderate members of the democratic party including program la jayapal whe with reporters after the meeting about spending bills.

ms. jayapal: good afternoon, everybody. we had a really good, productive meeting. another productive meeting with the president, with the vice president, with secretary yellen. i think we all feel still even more optimistic about getting to an agreement on a really transformational bill that will fundamentally lift people up with the priorities that the progressive caucus laid out five months ago. we feel very good that the majority of those priorities will be in this bill and i think the president has been working incredibly hard oget everybody to a place where we can move this forward and finish this process so we can start on whatever is the next important thing that we need to do. so i feel like we -- these conversations have been really important and the president's work with the senators and with our caucus in the house have

been really, really critical for us to be able to move forward. we're feeling good. >> did you agree to a bottom line number? ms. jayapal: i want to remind everybody that the house has a bill that the vast majority of us agreed to. we are really talking about a couple of people that were not there. we understand that the margins are slim. so we need to get there so i think it's fine for the president to have smaller meetings with different groupings of people. i think that's a good thing. that doesn't mean we're not all talking to each other separately as well. we're in a good place. reporter: what about the bottom line number? ms. jayapal: the president laid

out a number that's between 1.9 and 2.2. it's not the number we want. we have consistently tried to make it as high as possible. but at the end of the day the idea that we can do these programs, a multitude of program, and actually get them going so they deliver immediate transformational benefits is what we're focused on. reporter: as the president shed any light on conversations with senator man chin and senator sinema? ms. jayapal: he said he's working with them and is moving toward ares. deution on what he's fighting for in the bill. reporter: they were on board with the 1.9 to # .2 number yet? ms. jayapal: that's the number he's trying to get everybody to.

reporter: are you having conversations about cutting programs? ms. jayapal: the president agreed with our strategy the majority of the caucus put out, which is we would like to see more of our priorities. the progressive caucus didn't give a list of 100 thing, we gave a list of five major priority areas. i think he's with us that we need to invest in as many transformational areas as possible even if it means for some of them a shorter amount of time. reporter: how would you describe the 39's role? reporter: when it comes to investments on climate change, what do you see as a middle ground between progressives and senator manchin. ms. jayapal: we are still waiting to see what the agreement is around how we ensure we get carbon emissions

reduction. i think that there are lots of possibilities on the table. some of which may be in the bill. some of which may not be. so we just need to continue to look at the final agreement around that because i don't think there is a final agreement there but we're hopeful that we're going to get to a significant investment in climate. reporter: did he talk to you about any deadlines that he wants, if it's not october 31, which of course -- ms. jayapal: the president is the inspirer, he's the closer, he's the convincer, the mediator in chief. he really is doing a phenomenal job. reporter: what about deadlines? did he talk about deadlines? ms. jayapal: i think we're trying to get to a real close as wickly as possible. reporter: are you frustrated with what's going on? is he taking a tougher stance to get this done?

ms. jayapal: the president has been nothing but respectful of all we're trying to accomplish, all he's trying to accomplish in his build back bert i agenda others should say how they're feel about this but they've been really conversationable -- confersal, important sessions for us to hear from him and him to hear from our members. reporter: senator schumer has expressed that what he wants is framework by the end of this week? ms. jayapal: we're all working as hard as we can. all of us are having a million conversations every day to try to get there. reporter: would you accept a cap on income? ms. jayapal: we didn't discuss that reporter: did you discuss a carbon tax? >> no. reporter: was there discussion ability paid family and medical

leave? ms. jayapal: i think -- i'm not going to get into the details but paid family and medical leave is a priority of ours and we want to make sure it stays in there reporter: [inaudible] ms. jayapal: we're not at a place where there's a final thing to look at. that's what we're trying to look at ight now. reporter: from senator manchin? ms. jayapal: from everybody. reporter: do you have a sense, are there certain revenue raisers, taxes that you feel like will definitely be part of the package that you all talked about? ms. jayapal: we didn't get into that but as ro said in the meeting, it's important to remember what a tiny piece of our g.d.p. this package at any of the prices we're talking about are and also the president did talk about how this is ultimately a zero dollar bill. it's all paid for, it's paid for

in part, you know, in large part through taxes on the wealthiest corporations and individuals and it will be a tax cut for so many middle class families because so many of these things are crucial to their being able to actually survive and thrive. reporter: has the president given you any indication of what the demands are? ms. jayapal: he was laying out some areas he knows are important to us and where we might be able to get on some of those. it wasn't focused on the two senators. reporter: focus on climate for a minute. is that something that -- what would that look like? ms. jayapal: we don't have all the details on the climate pieces yet. reporter: is reconciliation the right way to try to pass the bills? ms. jayapal: do you have another option?

[laughter] thanks, everybody. appreciate it. nice to see you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy visit ncicap.org] >> washington unfiltered. c-span in your pocket. download c-span now today. >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. browse our latest collection of c-span product aiks payroll, books, home decor and accessories. there's something for every c-span fan. every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. shop now or any time at c-spanshop.org. >> do you ever disagree with your political party? also interested in c