Biden claims progressives don't like him because he doesn't embrace 'a socialist agenda'

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President Biden opened up about his conflict with the more progressive side of the Democratic Party, arguing in a recent interview that he encounters criticism for not embracing a socialist agenda.

"The progressives don’t like me because I’m not prepared to take on what I would say and they would say is a socialist agenda," Biden told The New York Times this week.

Columnist David Brooks wrote that Biden was suspicious of generous college debt forgiveness and that people "who take the big risks to generate wealth should reap the big rewards."

Those comments come as Biden faces pressure from within his party to adopt sweeping environmental and economic policies like the Green New Deal. 

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Biden does believe in large economic proposals but aligns more with the working class rather than academic and elite strains of the Democratic Party, Brooks wrote.  

"The risk is not trying to go big," Biden said, according to the Times. "If we stay small, I don’t know how we change our international status and competitive capacity."

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Although Biden has proposed ambitious climate goals and a $2 billion infrastructure package, progressives are asking for more. That includes sweeping investments in health care, energy and student debt relief.

"The idea that you go to Penn and you’re paying a total of 70,000 bucks a year and the public should pay for that?" Biden said. "I don’t agree."