White House moves to sharper, populist message to keep Democrats together in make-or-break agenda moment

CNN — As the President Joe Biden enters a make-or-break moment for his legislative agenda, the White House has moved toward a clear message for the Democrats it can’t afford to lose: This is a simple choice. It’s also become a focal point of a behind-the-scenes push with congressional Democrats and key allies outside of government, driven by messaging and polling memos circulated by White House officials in the last two days, underscoring the ramped-up efforts to bring Democrats in line at the most fraught moment of the process. “The real choice right now is whether you’re going to lower costs for people in this country on elder care, childcare, cost of college or whether you’re going to allow the wealthiest Americans and corporations to continue to pay the tax rates that are hardly fair moving forward,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Wednesday. “The President’s agenda will ease the burden of high costs on working families, deliver significant tax cuts to the middle class, and create millions of jobs, while making the super-wealthy and profitable corporations pay their fair share,” said one of the opening paragraphs of a White House polling memo obtained by CNN that was circulated on Wednesday to congressional Democrats and outside allies.