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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden lunched with Democrats on Capitol Hill Wednesday as the party proceeds with the delicate task of crafting two separate pieces of legislation worth a combined $4.1 trillion in new spending.

Biden’s attendance at the lunch comes following a late-night announcement from Democratic Senate leaders that they had agreed on a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the first step in unlocking a process that could allow Democrats to pass some of Biden’s American Families plan priorities without any Republican support.

In an hour-long lunch meeting behind closed doors, Senate Democrats peppered Biden with questions about the new budget blueprint and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, according to numerous attendees.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with the chairman of the Budget Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and panel member Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who has fought to reign in the broader legislation, walked the president and caucus through the outlines of the $4.1 trillion in proposed new spending.

According to a senior Democratic aide, the budget proposal includes an extension of the child tax credit expansion first carved out in March’s COVID-19 relief bill. Families with children under 6 years old receive $3,600 per year per child under that expansion and families of older children receive $3,000 per child.

The resolution also includes funding for a variety of climate initiatives, support for universal Pre-K, affordable child care, community college and paid family leave, and investments in affordable housing and small businesses, among other provisions.

Sanders said there is also “at least $120 billion” for immigration reform expected in the final product.

To pay for the massive package, Democrats are proposing raising taxes on the wealthy and big corporations, but won’t tax families making under $400,000, the aide said.

Sanders praised the resolution Wednesday as “the most consequential program in modern history of this country,” but the plan does fall significantly short of the $6 trillion he initially insisted on.

One senator who attended lunch with the president said Sanders gave an effusive speech regarding his former rival, saying he never imagined Biden would be “so progressive.”

“It was a freaking lovefest,” the senator told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott of the speech.

During the lunch Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who seriously contemplated jumping into the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, thanked Biden for using the word “union” repeatedly, though the context was not clear, according to the Democratic senator.

“You are the first president in the 30 years I’ve been in Washington that I still like. He said, ‘You haven’t sold us out yet’,” the senator paraphrased Brown as saying.

Biden addressed both the bipartisan and reconciliation infrastructure deals, but most senators were struck by the broader, sweeping message — that the president doesn’t want his neighbors in Scranton, Pennsylvania, being hurt by anything they would do. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Biden “made an incredibly compelling case that this is the moment to go big.”

But not all Democrats are on board with the plan yet, and details of the budget proposal are still coming together.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters he has a number of concerns with the proposal.

“I’m concerned about inflation. And so I want to see more of the details of what’s going on. I’m concerned also about maintaining the energy independence of the United States of America,” the moderate Democrat said.

And Murphy, a progressive, said he’s concerned that the $3.5 trillion is not big enough, particularly to take care of modernizing the northeastern corridor rail service.

Any single Democratic defection could be a serious obstacle for Democratic leadership. Reconciliation requires a simple majority, which means every Democratic vote plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris will be required to move this bill over the finish line.

Republicans have been clear from the onset they won’t support spending beyond the bipartisan infrastructure package being negotiated separately.

“To me that $3.5 trillion that was announced last night really is the extreme Democrats’ freight train to socialism,” said Sen. John Barrasso, the number three Senate Republican. “This is something that they are going to need every Democrat to pass because there is not a single Republican in the House or in the Senate who is going to support this level of taxing and spending.”

Despite the Republican blowback to the budget resolution, members of the bipartisan group working on negotiating the separate, $1.2 trillion bipartisan plan, said they are not concerned about the budget proposal throwing their package off course.

“There are two very different bills that are totally separate tracks — one is bipartisan, responsible, no tax increases, the other is, you know, a huge spending spree at a time when we’re already at record levels of deficit and debt,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has been leading bipartisan negotiations on behalf of Republicans. “So I’m concerned about it, but they don’t relate to one another.”

“I think it’s a real mistake what they’re doing but it doesn’t affect us at all,” Portman said.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., another member of the bipartisan group, said their efforts are “totally separate.”

“They’re not linked, it is going to increase our debt or else increase taxes, but in terms of our effort it shouldn’t have an impact,” he said.

Bill text is not yet available for either the budget deal or the bipartisan infrastructure plan and senators face fast-approaching deadlines, set by Biden, for swift action before the August recess.

Schumer has said he intends to hold a vote on both the bipartisan deal and the budget package before the Senate takes its summer break.

ABC News’ Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration will begin evacuation flights in late July for Afghans who have aided the U.S. military and diplomatic missions, according to a senior administration official.

President Joe Biden earlier this month said all U.S. combat forces will be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31 and defended his decision to leave the country in the face of Taliban gains in the area.

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Scott Miller, returned from Afghanistan to Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday after he handed over his command at a ceremony in Kabul on Monday.

The evacuation effort, dubbed Operation Allies Refuge, will relocate Afghans who have applied for a U.S. Special Immigrant Visa and their families to a safe third country, but it is still unclear how many of these translators, guides and other contractors will be moved and to exactly where.

“Our objective is to get individuals who are eligible relocated, out of the country, in advance of the removal — of the withdrawal of troops at the end of August,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

The administration also has not specified when flights will depart, citing security concerns, but the senior administration official told ABC News that they will meet Biden’s commitment to begin flights by late July.

“Our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us,” Biden said in an address on Afghanistan on Thursday.

Earlier this month, a U.S. official told ABC News that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — Afghanistan’s neighbors to the north — have all been under consideration as third-country options, while a second official said the list includes the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, both of which are home to U.S. military facilities where Afghans could be brought.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the administration is also now considering using U.S. military installations in the continental U.S. “for short-term use,” as well as U.S. military installations in other countries that have “appropriate temporary residences and associated support infrastructure,” he said.

At this point in time, however, no final decision has been made yet, Kirby added.

This week, the president’s homeland security adviser Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Zalmay Khalilzad, the special representative for Afghanistan, are leading a delegation to Uzbekistan to discuss security and economic development opportunities for Afghanistan and other countries in the region, the White House announced Wednesday.

There are approximately 18,000 Afghans who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas, with many of them now fearing for their lives as the Taliban gain more districts in a summer offensive against the Afghan government. Within that group, 9,000 still have to complete their applications while the other half are having their cases adjudicated now, according to a State Department spokesperson.

At least 300 Afghan interpreters have been killed since 2014 because they worked for the U.S., according to the advocacy group No One Left Behind, although the Taliban have said in recent weeks that they will not harm them as they pursue power.

In April, Biden announced the withdrawal of all remaining U.S. forces from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that brought them there — although last Thursday he bumped that deadline up to Aug. 31.

But as U.S. and NATO forces exit, the Taliban have seized dozens of districts in a summer offensive that has killed hundreds of Afghan service members or seen them surrender. The Pentagon said this week it seems apparent the militant group is intent on taking power by force, even as the State Department calls for them to return to negotiations with the Afghan government, hosted by Qatar in its capital Doha.

The Biden administration has tried to reinvigorate those talks, which have been all but dead since the two sides agreed on an agenda late last year.

The senior administration official said Wednesday that the U.S. “remains confident that Afghanistan’s Armed Forces have the tools and capability to defend their country and that the conflict will ultimately have to be resolved at the negotiating table.”

But advocates say that time is running out for these Afghan interpreters and other contractors, while analysts warn that the country could be headed for civil war. The United Nations refugee agency warned Tuesday that the country is facing “imminent humanitarian crisis,” calling for an urgent end to violence.

The White House’s announcement Wednesday is “a vital step forward in honoring the promise we made to Afghan allies who faithfully served our mission,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of the country’s largest refugee resettlement agencies.

But “there are still far too many questions left unanswered, including who exactly and how many people are eligible for evacuation,” she added. “With partners estimating that 49% of those at risk reside outside of Kabul, how will those outside the capital access safety?”

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(WASHINGTON) — For the first time in history, some Senate Democrats on Wednesday moved to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, proposing to the remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the leaders of the effort, promised to use his “clout” to make decriminalization a Senate priority.

“This is monumental,” Schumer told reporters. “At long last we are taking steps in the Senate to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs.”

While Schumer conceded that Democrats do not yet unanimously support the draft decriminalization bill he unveiled, he said the announcement marks an important step in combatting injustice, especially among communities of color.

“The war on drugs has really been a war on people, particularly people of color,” Schumer said. “The waste of human resources because of the historic over-criminalization has been one of the great historical wrongs for the last decades and we are going to change it.”

Schumer said the draft bill, being proposed with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. also aims to expunge criminal records and create banking systems that give small and minority businesses a seat at the table.

Wyden called the bill, “cannabis common sense.”

Booker, who has long advocated for decriminalization, said the need for such a bill is urgent.

“Lives are being destroyed every single day and the hypocrisy of this is that, right here in the Capitol now, people running for Congress, people running for Senate, people running for president of the United States, who readily admit that they’ve used marijuana, but we have children in this country people all over this nation, our veterans, black and brown people, low income people, now bearing the stain of having a criminal conviction for doing things that half of the last four presidents admitted to doing,” he said.

To date, some 18 states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana and 37 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, now allow the medical use of the drug.

“The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will ensure that Americans — especially Black and Brown Americans — no longer have to fear arrest or be barred from public housing or federal financial aid for higher education for using cannabis in states where it’s legal,” the discussion draft reads. “State-compliant cannabis businesses will finally be treated like other businesses and allowed access to essential financial services, like bank accounts and loans. Medical research will no longer be stifled.”

But a number of Republicans, led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., oppose legalization.

“I do not have any plans to endorse the legalization of marijuana,” McConnell said in 2018 when he announced his support for legalizing hemp, noting that they are “entirely separate plants.”

The federal legislation would allow states to craft their own cannabis laws, just as states do with alcohol. It would end the confusion in some states that have legalized the product in various forms, but where consumers of marijuana could face potential civil and criminal penalties.

A new federal excise tax would also be created by the legislation similar to alcohol and tobacco.

Cannabis would be taxed at 10% in the first year after the legislation becomes law. That rate “would increase annually to 15 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent in the following years. Beginning in year five and thereafter, the tax would be levied on a per-ounce rate in the case of cannabis flower, or a per-milligram of THC rate in the case of any cannabis extract,” according to the discussion draft.

The legislation, if approved, would have an immediate effect on the lives of many, freeing some in prison for non-violent offenses.

“The bill automatically expunges federal non-violent marijuana crimes and allows an individual currently serving time in federal prison for non-violent marijuana crimes to petition a court for resentencing,” the draft states.

It would also reinvest new federal tax revenue into minority communities most affected by the 1980’s “War on Drugs” and ensure that no past marijuana-related crimes are used to refuse someone federal public assistance.

The proposed legislation would incentivize states and localities with federal aid to expunge criminal records for cannabis offenses in exchange for funding under two new Small Business Administration programs designed to help hard-hit communities.

“The Cannabis Opportunity Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to make loans to assist small businesses in the cannabis industry owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The Equitable Licensing Grant Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to implement cannabis licensing programs that minimize barriers for individuals adversely affected by the War on Drugs,” the draft says of the two new SBA programs.

Research into the effects of marijuana would be improved, as well, according to sponsors.

“Researchers have stated that the cannabis produced for research is not comparable to cannabis used in adult-use and medicinal markets nationwide, and that the (Drug Enforcement Agency)’s past failures to expand federally-approved production of cannabis have further limited the productivity of their research,” the draft states.

The House passed legislation last year removing marijuana from the controlled substances list and the legislation was reintroduced in May.

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(BALTIMORE) — A Baltimore judge has shut down efforts by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to put an early end to enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits.

Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill of the Circuit Court for Baltimore issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday ordering that immediate action be taken to ensure Maryland residents continue to receive “any and all” expanded unemployment benefits available to them through federal programs.

The legal action came in response to multiple cases challenging Hogan’s decision, which was announced in early June. The Republican governor said at the time that many businesses were facing “severe worker shortages” and “we look forward to getting more Marylanders back to work.”

Fletcher-Hill wrote the plaintiffs demonstrated that they “will suffer irreparable harm” if the injunction was not issued, and have shown that the issuance of it “is in the public interest.”

Federal pandemic unemployment benefits include an extra $300 a week and also expand eligibility to allow more people who may not have previously qualified (such as independent contractors) to receive jobless aid. The bolstered federal unemployment insurance programs were set to last through early September, though Hogan sought to cut them off in July.

A slew of states have similarly sought to curtail the enhanced federal unemployment benefits programs. Many Republican governors, including Hogan, have argued these benefits are dissuading people from seeking work as the economy begins to bounce back from the pandemic-induced downturn. An apparent labor shortage in the restaurant industry as many businesses reopen at once has also left some employers struggling to find staff.

Many economists have refuted the argument that enhanced unemployment benefits are preventing people from working. Low hiring numbers have also sparked a debate about dismal wages in the service industry.

A spokesperson for Hogan’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment Wednesday, but told The Baltimore Sun that the governor won’t challenge the decision.

“While we firmly believe the law is on our side, actual adjudication of the case would extend beyond the end of the federal programs, foregoing the possibility of pursuing the matter further,” Michael Ricci, Hogan’s director of communications, told the local outlet.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration will begin evacuation flights in late July for Afghans who have aided the U.S. military and diplomatic missions, according to a senior administration official.

President Joe Biden earlier this month said all U.S. combat forces will be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31 and defended his decision to leave the country in the face of Taliban gains in the area.

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Scott Miller, returned from Afghanistan to Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday after he handed over his command at a ceremony in Kabul on Monday.

The evacuation effort, dubbed Operation Allies Refuge, will relocate Afghans who have applied for a U.S. Special Immigrant Visa and their families to a safe third country, but it is still unclear how many of these translators, guides and other contractors will be moved and to where exactly.

The administration also has not specified when flights will depart, citing security concerns, but the senior administration official told ABC News that they will meet Biden’s commitment to begin flights by late July.

“Our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us,” Biden said in an address on Afghanistan on Thursday.

Earlier this month, a U.S. official told ABC News that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — Afghanistan’s neighbors to the north — have all been under consideration, while a second official said the list includes the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, both of which are home to U.S. military facilities where Afghans could be brought.

This week, the president’s Homeland Security Adviser Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad are leading a delegation to Uzbekistan to discuss security and economic development opportunities for Afghanistan and other countries in the region, the White House announced Wednesday.

There are approximately 18,000 Afghans who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas, with many of them now fearing for their lives as the Taliban gain more districts in a summer offensive against the Afghan government. Within that group, 9,000 still have to complete their applications while the other half are having their cases adjudicated now, according to a State Department spokesperson.

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