Spending plan raises Democrat’s concerns

WASHINGTON — A political rift among Democrats over President Joe Biden’s economic agenda appeared to widen Sunday as Sen. Joe Manchin threatened to vote against a taxand-spending bill as large as $3.5 trillion.

Manchin, of West Virginia, instead called for Democrats to whittle the amount, perhaps by more than half, while reeling in broad swaths of their still- forming proposal — including some of its programs to address child

poverty and combat climate change.

He said he can’t support the price tag, doesn’t see the urgency and is concerned about inflation and the effect of higher corporate taxes on U.S. competitiveness.

The potential for spending cuts troubled Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who later described a smaller economic package as “unacceptable.”

The comments from the two senators on Sunday news programs foreshadowed a significant political stalemate as Democrats continue laboring to craft a proposal that could include overhauls of health care, education, immigration and tax laws.

The process has played out across the Capitol in legislative sessions that have at times pitted moderates against liberals over the final package’s price tag and policy scope.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., aims to have the proposal fully written by Wednesday.

Congressional committees have been working hard this month on slices of the 10-year proposal in a bid to meet this deadline.

Pelosi is seeking a House vote by Oct. 1, near the Sept. 27 target for voting on the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that’s already been passed by the Senate and that moderates favor.

Manchin made clear his view that there was “no way” Congress would meet Pelosi’s goal for passage of the broader bill.

“We should be looking at everything, and we’re not,” he said.

“We don’t have the need to rush into this and get it done within one week because there’s some deadline we’re meeting, or someone’s going to fall through the cracks.”

Manchin has urged Congress to act first on the slimmer infrastructure bill the Senate greenlit. But progressive Democrats have threatened to withhold their support until the $ 3.5 trillion spending bill is passed alongside it.

In sorting out the disputes, Democrats face a tough political reality: They must stay united in a Congress they only narrowly control if they hope to pass what could become the largest economic package in U.S. history.

The risks are especially high in the Senate, where Democrats have only a tiebreaking majority, making Manchin’s early opposition to their plans all the more significant.

MANCHIN’S CONCERNS

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Manchin reiterated his broader concerns that a tax- andspending measure as large as $3.5 trillion could add to the deficit and worsen the country’s troubles with inflation. Echoing an op-ed earlier this month, he called for Democrats to take a “strategic pause” on advancing their legislative goals.

Party leaders have rejected those calls, with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., saying last week that the chamber is moving “full speed ahead” in the hopes of adopting the final measure before the end of the month.

Asked about the leader’s timeline, Manchin fired back, telling CNN, “That’s fine, he can; he will not have my vote on [$3.5 trillion], and Chuck knows that.”

Pressed repeatedly about a total he could support, Manchin said, “It’s going to be $1 [trillion], $1.5 [trillion].”

He later suggested the range was based on a modest rise in the corporate tax rate to 25%, a figure he believes will keep the U.S. globally competitive. Proponents of the $3.5 trillion plan seek to increase the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.

“The numbers that they’re wanting to pay for and the tax changes they want to make, is that competitive?” Manchin asked.

“I believe there’s some changes made that does not keep us competitive.”

Manchin on Sunday also revealed some of his thinking about the package, raising new concerns with some of Democrats’ biggest priorities.

He focused on the party’s efforts to extend the expanded child tax credit, a program that Democrats boosted under the most recent economic stimulus measure.

Manchin cited the need for additional rules in the program on limiting the tax credits to those with lower incomes and raised the idea that Democrats should tie the aid to work requirements — an idea generally opposed by progressive members of the party.

“I support child tax credits,” he said. “Let’s see how we’re doing; let’s make sure we’re getting it to the right people.”

“There’s no work requirements whatsoever. There’s no education requirements whatsoever for better skill sets,” Manchin said. “Don’t you think if you want to help the children, the people should make some effort?”

On climate issues, meanwhile, Manchin also appeared to take aim at one of the Democrats’ prized plans for reducing emissions — a program that would pay energy providers to use cleaner sources while penalizing those that continue to pollute.

Some party lawmakers say the program is essential for reaching Biden’s goal to slash the emission of greenhouse gases in half by 2030, but Manchin, whose state relies heavily on the coal industry, appeared to describe the effort as unnecessary.

“The transition is happening. Now they’re wanting to pay companies for what they’re already doing,” he said.

“It makes no sense to me at all for us to take billions of dollars and pay utilities for what they’re going to do as the market transitions.”

Manchin voted last month to approve a budget resolution that set the figure for the Democrats’ broad measure, though he and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have expressed reservations about the top-line amount.

SANDERS’ RESPONSE

Manchin’s calls to scale back the package drew condemnation from Sanders in a later interview on CNN.

“No, it is absolutely not acceptable to me. I don’t think it’s acceptable to the president, to the American people, or to the overwhelming majority of the Democratic caucus,” Sanders said.

“I believe we’re going to all sit down and work together and come up with a $ 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which deals with the enormously unmet needs of working families.”

Sanders touted the broader aims of the package to lower prescription drug prices, expand Medicare benefits and combat challenges including climate change. He stressed that many Democrats had already compromised in setting a $3.5 trillion ceiling, after Sanders and his allies initially sought close to $6 trillion.

Sanders said that Manchin digging in his heels threatens to kill both the reconciliation bill and the infrastructure measure that progressives want linked with it.

But on that point, Manchin asked, “Who’s digging in the heels here?”

“No one is talking about inflation or debt, and we should have that as part of the discussion,” he said.

“The emergency to do something in the next week is not there. We’ve done $5.4 trillion over the last year and about a year and a half. A lot of that money is still going out the door.”

It’s the infrastructure spending “that has the urgency,” Manchin said.

Sanders highlighted the political stakes, pointing to the fact that Democrats have tied their tax-and-spending measure to the separate, roughly $1 trillion effort to improve the nation’s infrastructure.

Sanders pointed to “a real danger the infrastructure bill will fail in the House because you’ve got many people there — and I support them — who say, ‘You know what, we had a joint agreement.’”

Although he expressed hope that “we’re going to work it out,” Sanders warned that it “would be a really sad state of affairs for the American people, the Congress, if both of those bills went down.”

Manchin has urged Congress to act first on the slimmer infrastructure bill the Senate greenlit. But progressive Democrats have threatened to withhold their support until the $3.5 trillion spending bill is passed alongside it.