Free community college dead in Biden spending bill

President Joe Biden’s proposal to make community colleges tuition-free is dead, a victim of cuts to his massive spending plan on social services, NPR is reporting.

The New York Times is also reporting the tuition plan has been cut.

Other higher education measures, including increased Pell Grants for low-income students and funding for vocational programs and college completion “are still on the table,” according to NPR.

Biden had proposed $3.5 trillion in spending on social programs that is now likely to be pared down to $1.75 to 1.9 trillion, after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-AZ., sank a plan to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

Bloomberg reported that Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat who represents a section of Los Angeles, remained hopeful that free community college tuition would remain in the legislation. “I’m a product of community colleges, and I want to make sure that stays in,” he said. Gomez attended Riverside Community College and went on to receive a master’s from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Speaking in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Biden called for increasing Pell Grants to help students pay college costs but did not mention community colleges, the New York Times reported.

In meetings with lawmakers later in the day, the Times reported, the president conceded that his free-tuition plan would have to be among the cuts.