Biden Plans First Meeting With GOP, Democratic Leaders in May

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden plans to host his first meeting since taking office with House and Senate leaders from both parties on May 12, a White House official said Wednesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have already been to the Biden White House, but the session will be the first trip for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The official said Biden plans to discuss policy areas where he and the lawmakers can find common ground. He plans to talk about how they can work together on “restoring trust in government, ensuring that government delivers for the American people, and keeping the nation safe and competitive in the world,” the White House said in a statement.

The meeting is to take place two weeks after Biden’s Wednesday night address to lawmakers, in which he’ll unveiling a sweeping $1.8 trillion plan to expand educational opportunities and child care for families, funded in part by the largest tax increases on wealthy Americans in decades.

The proposal follows a $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan that has yet to be taken up by Congress and a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan that Biden has signed into law.

Biden and his staff have already hosted more than 130 members of Congress at the White House, the official said.

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