House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, tasked with getting President Joe Biden’s two-pronged economic agenda over the finish line, told Democratic colleagues on Wednesday that they are "close to agreement on the priorities and the topline" of the president's sweeping social spending bill, bringing the two bills closer to passage.

At a private meeting of House Democrats on Wednesday, the venerable California Democrat reiterated that in order for the House to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Democrats need to have “the trust, the confidence and the reality” in Biden’s larger social spending plan, the Build Back Better bill.

"In order for the [bipartisan infrastructure bill] to pass, we need to have the trust, the confidence and the reality of the Build Back Better bill," Pelosi said.

"That will determine, our timetable, our course of action but we are in pretty good shape," Pelosi continued.

Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues later Wednesday that the House Rules Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, Oct. 28, to advance the Biden economic agenda.

In her note, the speaker called the Build Back Better act "historic" and "transformative" legislature, and provided updates on a number of key provisions of the measure.

In terms of climate initiatives, Pelosi said that "we are pleased with the robust climate package," and applauded lawmakers and committee chairs "for their wise proposals to meet the [President Biden's] goals."

Pelosi said that "we are still fighting for a paid family and medical leave provision," but noted that "there is broad agreement on the child tax credit, universal pre-K and child care, home health care, housing and workforce development."

"With regard to health care, great progress has been made to address the coverage gap in states that have not enacted the Medicaid expansion," Pelosi wrote. "This expansion of the Affordable Care Act takes us to nearly universal coverage, hopefully with expanded benefits for Medicare."

Leaving Pelosi's office on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., agreed that a deal is close, with a vote "possibly" coming on Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in his remarks on the floor Wednesday, echoed Pelosi's optimistic sentiments: "An agreement is within arm’s length. We are hopeful that we can come to a framework agreement by the end of today."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the chair of the Budget committee, expressed doubts that an agreement could be reached by Wednesday: "I don’t think so. I’m not quite clear in terms of the revenue package. Every sensible income option seems to be destroyed."

Biden met late Tuesday evening with  Democratic holdouts Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona at the White House. White House officials also met with Sinema and Manchin at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Following the meeting, Sinema said that they were "doing great, making progress," which Manchin echoed, saying that "progress" has been made toward a deal.

"It’s really up to the rest of the caucus," Manchin told lawmakers. "There’s 50 of us, and everyone has to participate."

The West Virginia moderate, a key linchpin to the Biden agenda in the evenly divided Senate, said that a deal can "absolutely" be reached today.

POLITICO reported late Wednesday that Democrats had finally decided to cut a paid leave proposal in the bill, a fact seemingly confirmed by Sen. Sanders, who said he was "extremely disappointed" by its exclusion.

"I think it's clear from day one that the president has supported those provisions," Sanders said. "The problem is not with the President, the problem is with members here who, although they are very few in number, they are a significant minority, think that they have a right to determine what the rest of the Congress should be doing."

Sanders was not alone in his disappointment. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a major champion of family leave who was negotiating with Sen. Manchin on the issue, said in a statement to POLITICO that "until the bill is printed, I will continue working to include paid leave in the Build Back Better plan."

"I am not done pushing," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told POLITICO on Wednesday. "I am going to keep fighting for the inclusion of paid family and medical leave until I see the final bill text. This is not over."

"We are not going to let one man tell millions of women in this country that they can’t have paid leave," Washington Sen. Patty Murray told reporters.

"There is no way" a deal is reached Wednesday, Sanders said, reiterating his earlier position. "I think we’ve got revenue issues and everything else.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, on the other hand, told reporters: "I might be right tonight: I heard they have a deal."

Schumer, for his part, would neither confirm, nor deny, simply saying that "we're working hard."

Also Wednesday, Senate Democrats unveiled a new billionaires’ tax proposal, an entirely new entry in the tax code designed to help pay for President Joe Biden’s sweeping domestic policy package and edge his party closer to an overall agreement.

The proposed tax would hit the gains of those with more than $1 billion in assets or incomes of more than $100 million a year, and it could begin to shore up the big social services and climate change plan Biden is racing to finish before departing this week for global summits.

The new billionaires' proposal, coupled with a new 15% corporate minimum tax, would provide alternative revenue sources that Biden needs to win over one key Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who had rejected the party's earlier idea of reversing the Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and the wealthy to raise revenue.

“No senator wants to stand up and say, ‘Gee, I think it’s just fine for billionaires to pay little or no taxes for years on end,’” said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, helming the new effort.

Manchin, however, expressed concerns with the billionaire's tax on Wednesday.

"I don’t like it," Manchin told reporters. "I don't like the connotation that we're targeting different people, as people that basically, they contributed to society and create a lot of jobs and a lot of money and give a lot to philanthropic pursuits."

"But," he added, "it's time that we all pull together and grow together."

Instead, Manchin floated the idea of "a 15% patriotic tax."

"We've all agreed on a 15% corporate tax," Manchin said. "We ought to be pleased this country's able to produce the wealth. But with that there's a patriotic duty that you should be doing something in this country that gives you the protection and the support and the opportunities. That's called a patriotic tax, it will be nothing that should be scorned about, it doesn't harm anybody."

Taken together, the new billionaires’ proposal, coupled with a new 15% corporate minimum tax, are designed to fulfill Biden’s desire for the wealthy and big business to pay their “fair share.” They also fits his promise that no new taxes hit those earning less than $400,000 a year, or $450,000 for couples. Biden wants his package fully paid for without piling on debt.

Democratic Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he told Wyden the billionaires’ tax may be more difficult to implement than the route his panel took in simply raising rates on corporations and the wealthy, undoing the 2017 tax cuts.

"The billionaires tax has not been vetted by our committee," Neal said later Wednesday, appearing to pour cold water on the plan. "And it would be very difficult because of its complexity."

"None of us in the Democratic caucus in the House have any problem with asking billionaires for more money," Neal added. "That's fine. But this happened all of a sudden.”

Wyden pushed back on Neal's assessment, telling reporters that the so-called billionaire tax is not dead: "Last time I looked, the United States Senate has a say too. We’re continuing to work with members."

All told, Biden’s package remains a substantial undertaking — and could still top $2 trillion in perhaps the largest effort of its kind from Congress in decades. But it’s far slimmer than the $3.5 trillion the president and his party first envisioned.

Other leading Democrats began to lend their backing to the emerging deal.

“We know that we are close,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, after a meeting with Biden at the White House. “And let me be explicitly clear: Our footprints and fingerprints are on this.”

From the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden still hoped to have a deal in hand to show foreign leaders the U.S. government was performing effectively on climate change and other major issues. But she acknowledged that might not happen, forcing him to keep working on the package from afar.

She warned about failure as opposed to compromise.

“The alternative to what is being negotiated is not the original package,” she said. "It is nothing.”

Democrats are hoping to reach an agreement by week's end, paving the way for a House vote on a related $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill before routine transportation funds expire Sunday. That separate roads-and-bridges bill stalled when progressive lawmakers refused to support it until deliberations on the broader Biden bill were complete.

Tempers are running short as Democratic colleagues tire of the repeated objections form Manchin and Sinema.

“You've got 48 out of 50 people supporting an agenda that works for the American people," Sen. Sanders said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.