A top House Democrat said party lawmakers in Congress will start over on a new version of Build Back Better and that it could be far more narrow than the $1.75 trillion bill that stalled in the Senate last month.
“We’ll have to go back to the drawing board,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told Politico during a virtual news interview Tuesday.
Hoyer said he believes Democrats can still pass significant portions of the legislation that can pass with 51 votes in the Senate using a budgetary tactic that averts a GOP filibuster.
Hoyer said Democrats will agree to pass a more narrow bill if it can win all 50 Democrats in the Senate. He likened the measure to Obamacare, which Democrats passed even though it left out provisions sought by many in the party, including universal healthcare.
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“You pass what you could pass, and then, in future years, future Congresses, you try to improve,” the Maryland Democrat said. “And so, I’m optimistic that we’re going to pass a significant, very positive for the American people Build Back Better bill.”
Hoyer acknowledged the final product may not include reviving monthly $300 checks for families with children because it’s not supported by Democratic holdout Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Instead, the measure may be limited to universal preschool, expanded Obamacare subsidies, and limited environmental provisions that meet Manchin’s approval, Hoyer acknowledged.
“Any bill that passes, we’ll have to have 50 votes plus the vice president’s vote,” Hoyer said, “So, when you asked me, ‘Is that possible?’ It is possible.”
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House Democrats are working on new legislation that includes provisions more likely to be accepted by Manchin, who warned reporters earlier this month that a new bill would have to be written “from scratch.”
Manchin said he wants to revise the 2017 tax cuts and use the savings from those changes to fund a social welfare bill.
In December, Manchin put an end to the original bill by announcing he would not vote for it, citing the high cost, rising inflation, and the staggering national debt.
