The White House and Congressional Democrats have agreed on a framework of options to pay their huge and emerging social and environmental bill, the Main Democrats said Thursday. Now they are faced with the daunting task of narrowing the menu to the tax options they can spend to fund President Joe Biden’s $ 3.5 trillion plan.

New York Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and California House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the progress as officials in the Biden administration and Democratic leaders in Congress negotiated behind the scenes. The package aims to rewrite tax and spending priorities to expand programs for Americans of all ages, while stepping up efforts to tackle income inequality and tackle climate change.

Setting a self-imposed Monday deadline, lawmakers said they would work non-stop to find an agreement on the details. Democrats’ views on these vary widely, although they largely agree with Biden’s idea of ​​raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to fund the program.

“We certainly think this is progress,” Biden’s press secretary Jen Pskai said at the White House.

Biden put his shoulder to the negotiations, inviting more than 20 of his party’s moderate and progressive lawmakers to the White House for long meetings this week. He is working to strike a deal with Congress on his “build back better” program at a time when his presidential campaign promises collide with the difficulty of actually governing.

But the party was divided over many details.

Moderate Democrats, especially Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, are calling for the total dollar amount to be reduced. The income options to pay – this mainly means taxes – considered can be increased or reduced, according to executives. The ultimate price could certainly drop from the highly publicized $ 3.5 trillion.

Republicans are strongly opposed to the package, calling it a “tax frenzy and reckless spending.” Democrats will therefore have to get it through Congress on their own, which is only possible if they limit their defections to a few in the House and none in the Senate.

“We are proceeding,” Pelosi said. “We intend to stay the course and pass the bill as soon as possible.”

Congressional leaders met early Thursday with the chairmen of the tax drafting committees to agree to the framework, building on work already done on these panels. They intend to honor Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes for people earning less than $ 400,000 a year.

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, has already drafted his version, which would raise an estimated $ 2.3 trillion by raising corporate tax rates to 26, 5% for businesses earning over $ 5 million per year and the highest personal income tax increase from 37% to 39.6% for those earning over $ 400,000, or $ 450,000 for married couples.

The House panel bill also includes a 3% surtax on the adjusted incomes of the very wealthy earning more than $ 5 million a year.

The Senate Finance Committee headed by Senator Ron Wyden has yet to pass his bill, but has considered proposals that target more super-rich, including efforts to reduce practices used to avoid paying taxes.

“I’m not going to go into specific things today, but I made it very clear as chairman of the finance committee that a billionaire tax would be on the menu,” Wyden said.

These tax targets align with the Biden administration, which is assembling arguments that the increases are fundamentally about fairness in an era of yawning income inequality.

According to a new analysis released Thursday by the White House, the 400 richest families worth more than $ 1 billion paid an average tax rate of just 8.2% between 2010 and 2018. The tables of the Treasury Department show that it is lower than the average family tax rate. with an income of approximately $ 142,000.

The analysis suggests two clear reasons why billionaires pay a lower rate than the upper middle class: They earn income from stocks, dividends, and other assets that are taxed at lower rates, and they can definitely avoid it. to pay tax on certain investment gains which are excluded by law. taxable income.

Without disclosing a framework, Wyden said he agreed with the House’s plans for some retirement savings accounts used by the wealthy to protect their debts.

By targeting “Mega IRAs,” Democrats hope to correct what they see as a loophole in the retirement savings system that allows billionaires to raise millions of dollars in independent retirement accounts without ever paying taxes. . According to some proposals, people earning more than $ 400,000 would not be allowed to contribute to their IRA once their account balance exceeds $ 10 million.

The Biden administration has also expressed interest in a climate change tax – a so-called pollution importer tax, which would essentially impose a tariff on goods from countries without certain emissions controls – and seen as a means to put pressure on China.

Gaining less traction appears to be a carbon tax that could fall on households and deviate from Biden’s pledge not to tax those who earn less than $ 400,000.

Another big unknown: whether Democrats can rally around a plan to curb prescription drug costs, which could save the government hundreds of billions that could be used for Biden’s goals

Thursday’s sudden announcement of framework options caught key lawmakers off guard, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., The Chairman of the Budget Committee, and others playing leading roles in the drafting one of the biggest bills Congress has ever attempted.

Schumer later admitted of the emerging framework – “it’s hardly conclusive, but it was a good step forward.”

Still, the framework could help congressional leaders show their momentum as they head to crucial deadlines and begin to address concerns raised by Manchin and other moderates who want a clearer view of the taxes being considered ahead of time. moving forward, assistants said.

On Monday, the House plans to begin examining a separate $ 1,000 billion package of road and other infrastructure projects as a first test of Biden’s program. This public works bill has already been passed by the Senate, and Pelosi has agreed to schedule it for a vote in the House to appease party moderates who are keen to see this bill passed but are reluctant to back the bill. larger measure of $ 3.5 trillion.

But progressives threaten to dismiss the public works bill as inadequate unless it is associated with a larger package. To make sure both bills can pass, Democratic leaders are trying to reach agreement on the bigger bill.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate remain deadlocked on a separate plan to maintain government funding beyond fiscal year-end Sept. 30 and suspend the federal debt ceiling to avoid a closure and a devastating payment default from the United States. Senate Republicans are refusing to support this House bill, despite the risk of triggering a budget crisis.

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Associated Press editors Marcy Gordon and Josh Boak contributed to this report.