Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has thrown cold water on top Democrats’ hopes to use a budget reconciliation bill to address issues including climate change and unwinding key parts of the GOP’s landmark tax reform bill. However, Democratic lawmakers hope a narrower bill can be enacted ahead of a tough election year.
And that might just help the Democrats politically, rather than a broader, social spending measure that is popular with the party’s left-wing activist base but looks questionable to much of the voting public, considering that inflation is the highest in 40 years.
Top members of the party had been praising renewed talks between the West Virginia centrist Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on a budget reconciliation bill that would allow the party to bypass the filibuster in the Senate after Manchin killed a broader social spending bill that progressives supported late last year.
WORSENING INFLATION A NEW HEADACHE FOR DEMOCRATS TRYING TO AVOID MIDTERM DISASTER
But the news that inflation numbers had hit 9.1%, a 40-year high, has led to the senator calling for the chamber to pump the brakes and wait until the July inflation report is out before they consider including language pertaining to climate and tax hikes in the bill. Manchin has indicated he continues to support the idea of passing a party-line bill to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and extend Affordable Care Act subsidies without the other language attached.
And President Joe Biden on Friday said he would take “strong executive action” on climate change following the apparent failure of Senate Democrats to reach a deal on major green energy legislation.
However, with the Democrats facing headwinds in their push to retain the majority in the House and Senate, lawmakers are looking to tout legislative accomplishments. Some have expressed frustrations with the process but remain optimistic that something can be passed that they tout back home.
“So, look, in polarized times, I will take what I can get, and I wanted more. I wanted the full COMPETES Act,” Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) told reporters Friday, referring to a stalled bill to enhance America’s global dominance in technology.
“There are a lot of things I wanted. But I will take a half a loaf over no loaf any day, and it’s frustrating,” said Slotkin, who represents a Lansing-area House district President Joe Biden carried by just 1 percentage point. “I’m frustrated, but that doesn’t mean I walk away from the table.”
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One source familiar with the most recent talks between Manchin and Schumer said they are confident that passing legislation on drug pricing is achievable.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), whose seat appears safe but flipped his Minneapolis-area district from red to blue in 2018, said he sees the issues as important but believes their work will help vulnerable incumbents in November.
“While climate action, drug pricing, and the ACA subsidy remain of great importance for the country, swing district candidates know that protecting pocketbooks, democracy, and women’s freedom from government control will supersede all else come November,” Phillips told the Washington Examiner.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), the head of House Democrats’ campaign arm, said his messaging focus is not on the reconciliation bill, but on hitting Republicans on the topics they believe will resonate with swing voters.
Maloney said he’s much less concerned about “what’s wrong with Democrats than I am with why the Republicans are trying to rip away reproductive freedom, ignoring the attack on the Capitol, and doing nothing while kids are gunned down in their classrooms. And while we’re at it, [they] have no plan to protect our climate,” he told the Washington Examiner. “So my answer is I want more seats in the Senate, and I want to hold the House of Representatives, and we can get big things done.”
