By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) – For months, U.S. President Joe Biden and Democrats touted a $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan as a transformational piece of legislation that would reshape the world’s largest economy for decades to come.

As they try to meet demands within their ranks for a smaller package, the team has spent the past few days deciding on how to reduce certain parts of the plan and what parts to eliminate entirely.

According to White House and congressional sources, the White House has a list of proposals that could be cut. These include a $109billion plan to give free community college to every American and a $150B program to force utilities to shift to renewable energy. According to them, the much-anticipated extension of child tax credit was reduced to one year. Paid family leave could also be cut.

It is over. A plan worth $109 billion to give free college access to every American has ended. On the verge of being scrapped is a $150 billion program designed to encourage utility companies to transition to renewable energy. Payed family leave and the much-anticipated child tax credit extension were slashed to just one year.

Most importantly, a basic mechanism for paying it all is on ice. Senator Kyrsten sinema is a key swing-vote Democrat and is not likely to support it.

Democrats say that the emerging compromise on Biden’s agenda will get still create meaningful economic and climate-related changes, but the process seemed to be taking its toll this week. I just need us to pass a bill. “That is my position,” Senator Mazie Hairono said Wednesday to reporters with a deep sigh.

CHILD TAX CREDITS VS. COMMUNITYCOLLEGE

Biden’s promise to offer free tuition at community colleges for all Americans is now in jeopardy. He claimed that enrollment helps students gain skills and secure well-paying jobs that will boost their incomes. This is a painful and sometimes difficult trade-off.

Jill Biden is the wife of Biden and a professor at a community college. She has advocated for community college tuition free since 2016. President Biden made the pledge in October 2019 as a candidate.

Free community college, like many other elements in the plan was very popular among voters. However, it didn’t enjoy the fevered support of Congress like other elements.

“We had to make a decision between free community college and the child tax credit, and the child tax credit was just a higher priority,” a legislative aide told Reuters on Tuesday.

Paid family leave, a cornerstone of Biden’s economic agenda, and a topic some members of his women-heavy economic team have spent years advocating for, also faces severe cutes.

Biden’s initial plan called for providing up to 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents and caretakers for seriously ill family members, and compensating workers for at least two-thirds of their earnings.

Supporters who consider this the best way to ensure a critical safety net, especially for women, are worried that the benefits could be cut to just a few short weeks.

Democrats have been scrambling for a deal on a climate strategy plan, following the U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin from West Virginia is a moderate Democrat who opposed a key component of the plan. It would penalize utilities that don’t invest in renewable fuels while rewarding those that do.

According to three sources familiar with the discussion, Democrats now consider a variety of options including increasing production tax credits for nuclear power and credit enhancements for carbon sequestration projects.

Biden was widely believed to have chosen the $150 billion plan to decarbonize America’s utility industry as it would be the most efficient way of reaching his 2020 goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50%. The plan would have been a great way for Biden to present the United States as a world leader on climate change, at the United Nation’s next climate summit, which will take place in Glasgow (Scotland), Oct. 31. It is likely that some of his supporters will not be able to accept it.

Jamal Raad of Evergreen Action, who worked alongside Democratic legislators, stated that “fundamentally we must invest in decarbonization the electric sector”