Manchin seeks to trim Biden’s $3.5T budget plan by more than half
WASHINGTON — A Democratic senator vital to the fate of President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending said Sunday he won’t support even half that amount or the ambitious timetable envisioned for passing it.
The stand by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was described as unacceptable by the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who is helping craft the measure. But Democrats have no votes to spare if they want to enact Biden’s massive “Build Back Better” agenda, with the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaker if there is no Republican support.
With congressional committees working toward the target of Wednesday set by party leaders to have the bill drafted, Manchin made clear his view, in a series of television interviews, that there was “no way” Congress would meet the late September goal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for passage.
“I cannot support $3.5 trillion,” Manchin said, 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. 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,” he said.
Pressed repeatedly about a total he could support, Manchin said, “It’s going to be $1, $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.
“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.”
But Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is developing the budget bill, noted that he and other members of the liberal flank in Congress had initially urged an even more robust package of $6 trillion.
Western wildfires: California highway authorities reopened nearly all lanes of a Southern California freeway Sunday as firefighters made progress on a wildfire that jumped across the road and spread across dry hillsides.
The fire broke out Saturday afternoon near Castaic in northern Los Angeles County. Pushed by 10-15 mph winds, the blaze chewed through tinder-dry brush and jumped across the busy freeway, spread across more than a half of a square mile.
The California Highway Patrol closed a stretch of the interstate for several hours as air tankers dropped bright-orange retardant on the flames.
Two firefighters were taken to the hospital to treat burn injuries, said Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Angeles National Forest.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Koreas tensions: North Korea says it successfully test fired what it described as newly developed longrange cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known testing activity in months that underscored how it continues to expand its military
capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States. The Korean Central News Agency said Monday the cruise missiles, which had been under development for two years, successfully hit targets 932 miles away during its flight tests on Saturday and Sunday. The North hailed its new missiles as a “strategic weapon of great significance” that meets leader Kim Jong Un’s call to strengthen the country’s military might.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military was analyzing the North Korean launches based on U.S. and South Korean intelligence.
France election: Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France’s first female leader in next year’s spring election.
The far-right National Rally party’s Marine Le Pen and Paris’ Socialist
mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves.
They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. This includes battles among multiple potential candidates on the right — including another female politician Valerie Pecresse — and among the Greens.
Hidalgo, 62, mayor of the French capital since 2014, is the favorite to win the Socialist Party nomination. She launched her candidacy in the northwestern city of Rouen.
Le Pen, the 53-year-old leader of France’s far-right party, started her campaign in the southern city of Frejus with a pledge to defend French “liberty.” In keeping with a hard-right message that critics say has vilified Muslim communities, Le Pen promised to be tough on “parts of France that have been Talibanized.”
Macron, 43, has not yet announced his reelection bid but is expected to do so. Launching a candidacy in France is a necessary formality for each presidential election.
Tropical weather: Tropical Storm Nicholas strengthened as it headed for the Gulf Coast on Sunday, threatening heavy rain and floods in coastal areas of Texas, Mexico and Louisiana.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said tropical storm warnings were issued for coastal Texas and the northeast coast of Mexico. Nicholas is expected to produce total rainfall of 5 to 10 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches, across portions of coastal Texas into southwest Louisiana on Sunday through midweek.
The storm was expected to bring the heaviest rainfall west of where Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana two
weeks ago. Although forecasters did not expect Louisiana to suffer from strong winds again, meteorologist Bob Henson at Yale Climate Connections predicted rainfall could still plague places where the hurricane toppled homes, paralyzed electrical and water infrastructure and left at least 26 people dead.
Spain wildfire: Soldiers were deployed Sunday in southeastern Spain to join the battle against a major wildfire that is burning for a fourth day, invigorated by stray embers that sparked a new hot spot.
The blaze in Malaga province has destroyed nearly 17,300 acres of forest and prompted fresh evacuations, bringing the total number of residents displaced to around 2,500.
Authorities on Sunday preventively removed nearly 1,500 residents from the towns of Jubrique, Genalguacil and four other villages.