After weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations, Senate Democrats announced a $3.5 trillion budget plan that outlines their spending wish list for the next decade.
The price tag was far below Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders’s initial proposal that would have spent up to $6 trillion on an array of social programs, including free childcare, money to care for the elderly, expanded Medicare services, and free college.
While the package would provide significant money for those priorities, it is far less rich than Sanders had hoped.
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Democrats had little choice but to pare back their initial offering — key centrist Democrats whose support is required to pass the measure balked at spending even $4 trillion. A larger package would potentially doom the chance for the party to pass anything while they have rare control over the House, Senate, and White House.
Centrist Democrats — including Mark Warner of Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — played a significant role in lowering the price tag.
“I think we should do it for as efficient an amount of money as possible,” Tester said.
On Tuesday, Warner touted that the 10-year plan would not add to the nation’s staggering debt, a demand made by some centrists.
“The plan we have put together is fully paid for,” Warner said.
Democratic leaders acknowledged the proposal was crafted to win all 50 Democrats, so it had to shrink from Sanders’s initial pitch.
“In some cases, it does not provide all of the funding that I would like to do right now,” Sanders, a Vermont Democrat and a socialist, told reporters in the Capitol Wednesday. “But given the fact that we have 50 Senators and compromises have got to be made, this is very, very significant, certainly.”
Liberal Democrats say they are reviewing the proposal and are wary of lower spending on big priorities.
“For me, the devil is still in the details,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. “There’s still a lot to learn about the budget committee process. I certainly haven’t committed to vote for it yet.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, hoped for $700 billion to pay for universal day care, but that number is likely to be smaller.
“What I’m pushing for is that we are committed to universal childcare,” Warren told reporters. “We’re slicing up the money now to figure out the right ways to make that happen. But childcare is clearly part of this package. And we now have to figure out the way to make sure that it is a strong program that covers every baby.”
The package won a key endorsement Wednesday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will be instrumental in convincing her liberal caucus to support the plan despite lower spending levels than some lawmakers hoped for.
“The Senate budget will contain many of House Democrats’ top priorities, including transformative action on the investments needed to confront the climate crisis, to transform the care economy, and to expand access to health care with enhancements to ACA, Medicare and closing the Medicaid coverage gap,” the California Democrat wrote to fellow Democrats.
The lower figure provides no guarantee centrist Democrats, such as Manchin, will back the plan.
Democrats will need every party lawmaker to back the measure, as the budget resolution requires only 51 votes to pass. Democrats control 50 seats, plus the tiebreaking authority of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Manchin on Wednesday railed against anything in the bill that would call for the elimination of fossil fuel use, a key policy goal of many in the liberal wing of the party. The budget proposal includes a major component to mitigate climate change, mainly by replacing coal and gas with renewable energy.
The coal-state Democrat has already met with party leaders about provisions in the bill that would phase out fossil fuels, he told reporters.
“I said, ‘You move our country away from fossil, and there might be another country that will step to the plate and do the research and development that will fix the emissions that are coming from fossil now,’” Manchin told reporters.
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“I’m talking about anybody moving in a direction where they think they can walk away and just not have any fossil in play, that’s just wrong,” Manchin added. “It won’t happen. It can happen, and it doesn’t do a darn thing but makes the world worse.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned of “bumps along the way” in turning the budget plan into legislation that can pass both chambers, likely with only Democratic support.
“This is only the first step in the long road we will have to travel and must travel,” Schumer said. “But we are going to get this done because we so fervently believe that we must make average Americans’ lives a whole lot better.”
