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FILE – In this file photo from Aug.5, 2021, Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., prepares to chair a hearing at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as lawmakers are working to advance the bipartisan $ 1,000 billion bill on Capitol Hill in Washington. Manchin said Thursday, September 2 that Congress should take a “strategic break” on more spending, warning that he did not support President Joe Biden’s plans for a massive $ 3.5 trillion effort to rebuild and reshape the economy. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, file)
WASHINGTON (AP) – As Democrats in Congress move forward this week in pursuing President Joe Biden’s $ 3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending, a Democratic senator vital to the fate of the bill says the cost will have to be reduced to $ 1,000 to $ 1.5 trillion to gain its support.
Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., also warned that there was “certainly not” Congress will meet the end-September target of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Given her current big differences with the Liberal Democrats on how much to spend and how to pay it.
“I cannot support $ 3.5 trillion. “ Manchin said on Sunday, citing in particular his opposition to a proposed increase in the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and vast new social spending. “We should be looking at everything, and we’re not doing it. We don’t have to rush and do it in a week because there’s a deadline that we meet, or someone is going to slip through the cracks.
Democrats have no voice to spare if they want to enact the Biden Massif “Build back better” agenda, with the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaker if there is no Republican support. Democratic leaders in Congress have set a Wednesday target for committees to draft the bill.
Pressed repeatedly over a price he could afford, Manchin said, “It’s going to be $ 1, $ 1.5 (trillion).” He suggested the range was based on a modest increase in the corporate tax rate to 25%, a figure he said will keep the United States competitive globally.
“The numbers they want to pay and the tax changes they want to make, is that competitive? “ Manchin asked. “I think some changes have been made that don’t allow us to remain competitive. “
But Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who chairs the Senate Budget Committee and helps craft the measure, noted that he and other members of the Liberal flank of Congress initially called for an even more robust package of 6,000. billions of dollars. He described Manchin’s proposal as a non-starter.
“I don’t think that’s acceptable to the president, to the American people, or to the overwhelming majority of people in the Democratic caucus,” Sanders said. He added: “I believe we are all going to sit down and work together and come up with a $ 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that addresses the hugely unmet needs of working families.”
The current project is proposing billions to rebuild infrastructure, tackle climate change, and expand or introduce a range of services, from free preschool to dental, vision and hearing care for the elderly.
Manchin voted last month to approve a budget resolution that fixed the figure, although he and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, expressed reservations about the amount of turnover. All of this would be paid for with taxes on corporations and the rich.
Congressional committees have been working hard this month on slices of the 10-year proposal in a bid to meet this week’s schedule of Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., to make write the bill. Pelosi is looking to get a House vote by October 1, close to the September 27 schedule to vote on a thinner infrastructure plan favored by moderate lawmakers.
Manchin, who in an op-ed earlier this month urged a “Strategic break” on legislation to reconsider the cost, called the schedule unrealistic. He urged Congress to act first on the nearly $ 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill already passed by the Senate. But Liberal Democrats have threatened to withhold support until the $ 3.5 trillion spending bill is passed at the same time.
Neither side, in their remarks on Sunday’s news programs, revealed how they hope to quickly bridge the gap between Democrats.
“There is no way to get there by the 27th, if we do our job”, said Manchin. “There are so many differences that we have here and so much – there is so much outside of us where we are. … I work with people. I am ready to talk to people. It does not mean anything. “
Manchin spoke on CNN “State of the Union,” NBC “Meet the press” and ABC “This week.” Sanders was on CNN and ABC.
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