Officials, who declined to be named, called on Congress to appropriate more than $ 14 billion to help recover from the “unmet needs” of recent natural disasters, including wildfires and storms, as well as ‘at least $ 10 billion to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Government officials are also asking for $ 6.5 billion in funding for Afghan refugees.
The proposal comes as the White House faces several critical battles in Congress over the coming weeks.
The fight for government funding last September 30 is turning into a big-bet fight with all the faith and credit of the United States on the line. Not only will there be much-needed money for Afghan evacuees and to help in the event of a natural disaster, but there will also be a struggle to raise the national loan limit. Democrats have not said whether they will ascribe the debt ceiling rise to the bill to keep the government open, but they are expected to do so and dare with the Republican Party to block it and risk a closure of the government. government in the process.
There is also a big clash over the president’s infrastructure agenda. White House officials are stepping up their efforts to unify Democrats behind the $ 3.5 trillion expansion of Biden’s social security network, underscoring a combination of urgency and opportunity. Kate Bedingfield, the White House’s director of communications, outlined a number of key elements in the package – specifically those officials who are believed to be the most popular among the public – in a three-page note sent Tuesday to top Democratic aides. of the House.
“Right now we are facing a fundamental choice in America as we rebuild our economy: this time, will everyone participate in the deal?” Bedingfield wrote in the note obtained by CNN. “President Biden knows which side he is on: the backbone of this country, the middle class.”
The note comes as White House officials have worked feverishly to help work out the details of the draft proposal, which is expected to include key democratic priorities such as paid vacations, free community college and universal preschool. . But the messaging element has been a point of controversy, as some moderate Democrats have expressed concerns about the scope and scope of the proposal in recent weeks.
“The time has come,” Bedingfield writes in the note. “We have to meet the needs that lie ahead. Not tomorrow, not months, not next year. Right now. Working families in the United States deserve opportunity and nothing less.”
The Biden administration is also asking Congress to separately approve $ 150 billion to fund clean energy and resistance to climate change in its bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has not yet been approved by the House of Representatives.
The amount of funding for hurricanes in the application submitted Tuesday is a recognition of the extent of the devastation caused by climate change disasters, including fires, hurricanes and floods.
“Climate change is producing more serious natural disasters such as storms and forest fires,” one administration official said in the call. “We need to do more to help states recover from recent and ongoing natural disasters. They have many unmet needs.”
“All parts of the country are affected by the extreme weather, and we now live in real time what the country will be like,” Biden said as he toured the devastation of the floods in New Jersey on Tuesday. “We can’t go back that far, but we can keep it from getting worse.”
The purpose of the budget guidance sent to Congress, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budgets, Shalanda Young, wrote in a blog post: “It is to advise legislators on how to avoid serious disruptions in public services that , without realizing it, could result from the extension of the previous year’s allocation legislation without modifications. “
“We also call on Congress to include additional funding in a CR to help address two other urgent needs: responding to recent and ongoing natural disasters and fulfilling our commitments to our Afghan allies and partners,” Young wrote.
Government officials are also asking for $ 6.5 billion in funding for Afghan refugees.
One official said the government expects 65,000 Afghan refugees to arrive in the United States by the end of September and another 30,000 over the next 12 months. The funding request underscores the high demand for resettlement resources in the United States, an infrastructure that was decimated by the Trump administration.
“We know there is bipartisan support to help the Afghan partners who have supported us for so long,” the official said.
They added that the funding was “certainly critical … to ensure that we meet this bipartisan commitment to our Afghan allies and partners.”
This application also includes millions of “specific funding” for at-risk Afghans still in the country.
Young also “strongly” urged Congress to include this funding in the bill.
“The operation to get out of danger and protect tens of thousands of Afghans in danger, including many who helped us during our decades in Afghanistan, represents an extraordinary military, diplomatic, security and humanitarian operation by the state government. United, ”Young wrote.
She continued, “We urge Congress to appropriate $ 6.4 billion to enable the success of this multifaceted and historic mission.”
Most of these funds, he said, will go to overseas processing sites managed by the defense and state departments, in addition to humanitarian assistance through the state and USAID. It also includes funds for public health testing, vaccinations and other resettlement resources across the state and the Department of Health and Human Services.
This story has been updated with additional reports.
CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.