House and Senate Democratic leaders said they plan to move ahead with a $3.5 trillion spending package despite a growing threat from Sen. Joe Manchin that he’ll block it.
Democrats hope to consider the massive legislative package in the coming weeks, and they rejected a demand from the West Virginia senator to “hit the pause button” in order to reconsider the size and scope of the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected Manchin’s request on Wednesday, telling reporters in a conference call about the bill that he’s sticking to a September deadline for producing the legislation in committees.
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“We are moving full speed ahead,” Schumer said.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi also brushed off Manchin’s threat, telling reporters Wednesday that the House would move ahead with a $3.5 trillion measure.
Manchin has been increasingly entrenched in his opposition to the massive bill.
The sweeping legislation would pay for a broad array of new social welfare programs, including free universal preschool, free community college, money for elder care, paid family leave, and expanded Medicare services. The measure would also impose new “green energy” mandates aimed at eliminating fossil fuels.
The package would be partly funded by a tax increase on corporations and the wealthy.
Manchin wants to spend less and is opposed to policies aimed at ending fossil fuel use. The senator has also expressed opposition to raising the corporate tax rate beyond 25%. Democrats are aiming to hike it to 38%.
Concerns about rising inflation, the national debt, and America’s struggle to recover from the pandemic are fueling Manchin’s opposition to the $3.5 trillion measure, he said.
“Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation,” Manchin wrote in a Thursday Wall Street Journal opinion piece. “A pause is warranted because it will provide more clarity on the trajectory of the pandemic, and it will allow us to determine whether inflation is transitory or not.”
The Manchin op-ed was headlined, “Why I won’t support spending another $3.5 trillion.”
If he sticks to that pledge, Democrats are in real trouble.
Senate Democrats control 50 votes and can pass the measure with a simple majority with Vice President Kamala Harris, who can cast tiebreaking votes.
In addition to Manchin, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said she, too, opposes spending $3.5 trillion and would work to lower the cost of the measure.
The media outlet Axios reported Wednesday that Manchin has warned leaders that he would only agree to spend $1.5 trillion, which would appear to cut the Democratic proposal in half.
But Pelosi, a California Democrat, suggested Wednesday that Manchin’s top-line spending limit would be met if half the bill is paid for.
It’s not about the cost, Pelosi said.
“We will pay for more than half,” Pelosi said. “Maybe all of it. We will be taking responsibility for what is in there.”
Manchin’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for a comment Wednesday about Pelosi’s pitch.
Pelosi did not outright reject lowering the overall cost, but she suggested it would be impossible to cut out any of the social welfare programs now included in the bill, which Democrats say are essential for improving the lives of struggling constituents.
She’ll also have to contend with her own centrists in the party who have not all fully committed to supporting the measure. House Democrats control the majority very narrowly and can afford to lose only three votes in order to pass the legislation with a simple majority.
“I hope that as people are looking at numbers that they’re weighing the values and what we can accomplish with that legislation,” Pelosi said without mentioning any lawmakers by name.
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Republicans unanimously oppose the bill, arguing it will recklessly hike the debt and deficit and will impose irreversible socialism through free programs. They are watching on the sidelines, hoping Democrats will be unable to come up with the votes to pass it.
“It seems like we’re down to a couple of moderate Democrats in the Senate and maybe eight or nine in the House,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said on Guy Benson’s Fox Radio program. “I pray for them every night because not a single Republican will vote for this package, and that means that Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema could either kill the whole bill, write the whole bill, or buckle under pressure, and I hope neither of them do.”
