President Biden canceled a planned trip to Chicago on Tuesday night as Democratic divisions over the fate of two massive bills totaling $ 4.7 trillion threatened to torpedo the president’s national agenda.

Biden was due to travel to Windy City on Wednesday to comment on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for businesses. However, a White House official said the visit would be postponed so the president can help push the two laws past the finish line in the House of Representatives.

“In meetings and appeals over the weekend and through to today, President Biden has engaged with members of Congress on the way forward for the Build Back Better Act and the agreement. bipartite on infrastructure, ”the official said. “He will now be staying in the White House tomorrow to continue working to advance these two laws to create jobs, grow the economy and invest in families, rather than missed giveaways to the rich and big business.”

House lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday on the $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that passed the Senate last month. Far-left Democrats have warned they will vote against the measure if the $ 3.5 trillion Build Back Better law is not first passed by the House and Senate.

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Poured cold water on the plan on Monday night, telling members of her conference that the $ 3.5 trillion spending proposal was not still ready to be applied.

A handful of Republicans are expected to support the infrastructure bill in defiance of instructions from the GOP leadership, but it’s unclear how many. This uncertainty, along with questions about how many progressives will fall behind the measure, could create a mathematical headache for Pelosi – who boasted to reporters last month: “I’m not going to the prosecution and not losing. [votes]. “

The drama took another turn on Tuesday when Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) – the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and the main author of the $ 3.5 trillion social spending madness – urged progressives to the House to hold the infrastructure bill hostage until the greatest extent is approved by Congress.

Sanders argued in a threat on Twitter that if the $ 1.2 trillion bill passed this week, it would “end all the levers we have to pass a major reconciliation bill.

“This means there will be no serious effort to address the long neglected crises facing our country’s working families, children, the elderly, the sick and the poor,” Sanders added. “It also means that Congress will continue to ignore the existential threat to our country and our planet when it comes to climate change. I strongly urge my colleagues in the House to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until Congress passes a strong reconciliation bill. “

Democrats are trying to push the $ 3.5 trillion measure through the House and Senate without the support of Republicans. However, Sanders has a mathematical headache himself: In a 50-50 Senate, Democrats can’t have a single senator on their side against the bill, but Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D -Arizona) have already said they will not support the reconciliation measure at its current cost.

Manchin and Sinema both met with Biden in the White House on Tuesday, but have not publicly disclosed how much money would put them at ease to support a reconciliation measure. Politico reported on Tuesday evening that Sinema told the president she was hesitant to talk about details before the infrastructure bill cleared the House.

“This is the third time she’s said she’s told the president, ‘I’m not here. I have been very clear with you from the start, ”the outlet said, citing a person close to the senator who relayed Sinema’s comments to Biden.

Meanwhile, Manchin called on House Democrats to support the infrastructure bill, telling reporters that “holding one hostage rather than another is not fair, it is not fair. It is not good for the country.

“They have the right to do what they think and that is a political agenda,” he added. “I look at the needs of our country.

Meanwhile, a House Democrat has suggested that Biden take part in Wednesday night’s congressional baseball game if he is to mend his party’s loopholes.

“If he really wants to talk to the limbs and twist his arms,” ​​Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) Told The Post, “he should come to the baseball game.”