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Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) says privately he thinks Congress should take a “strategic break” until 2022 before voting on President Biden’s $ 3.5 trillion social spending program people familiar with the matter told Axios.
Why is this important: Manchin’s new schedule – if he insists – would disrupt the plans of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) to vote on the budget reconciliation plan this month.
Driving the news: Returning home in West Virginia last week, Manchin told a group of workers at a Procter & Gamble factory in Martinsburg that he wanted to suspend all discussions on the $ 3.5 trillion bill until in 2022, we told Axios.
- The semi-public comments follow some of his private conversations about how long he wants to impose the “strategic break” he launched in a Wall Street Journal op-ed this month.
- Manchin did not give a precise timetable in his editorial.
Any delay on the reconciliation package reserved for Democrats could jeopardize the House’s passage of the separate bipartisan $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which Pelosi has pledged to pass by September 27.
- Progressive House lawmakers publicly pledge to vote against the infrastructure bill if it is not paired with the $ 3.5 trillion bill to be passed through the budget reconciliation process.
- But centrist Democrats are adamant that the House will pass the bipartisan bill first – next week.
The big picture: Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) lead the Democratic opposition in the Senate to the size and scope of the reconciliation package.
It was largely written by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), And would dramatically expand the social safety net from cradle to grave, as The New York Times recently reported.
- Biden campaigned on many specific programs, including Universal Preschool and Free Community College. White House officials, along with progressives in Congress, argue that they are desperately needed to help foster a more equitable and inclusive society.
- But Manchin has signaled that he is deeply concerned about specific elements of the package and that his spending range is capped at $ 1.5 trillion.
- Last week, the president failed to persuade him to agree to the $ 3.5 trillion figure at a White House meeting.
Between the lines: Manchin is more public about his opposition, but Sinema also has deep reservations.
- She continues to dialogue with leaders of the White House and the Senate and to negotiate in great detail.
Go further: The Democrats’ strategy of passing both laws simultaneously will face a crucial test next week.
- Nine House centrists last Friday reminded Pelosi of his promise to vote on the infrastructure bill by September 27 – a week from Monday.
- “We reiterate our appreciation for the President’s public commitment to bring only one bill to the House that can garner the 51 votes necessary for passage in the Senate,” the nine lawmakers said in a joint statement. “We need legislation that can come out of the Senate and the president’s office.”
- But progressives insist the bipartisan package will fail if leaders put it to a vote before the reconciliation bill is passed.
- “There will not be enough votes to pass the House,” Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Bloomberg.
What they say : Representative Jim Clyburn (DS.C.), the House minority whip, suggested on Sunday that his party may need more time to resolve its differences.
- “Sometimes you kind of have to stop the clock to get to the goal,” he told CNN.
- He also said of a $ 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill: “It could be $ 3.5. [trillion]. It can be close to that, or it can be closer to something else. “
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