As we all know, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D. WV) is being a huge pain in the ass over the $3.5 trillion dollar infrastructure bill. His colleagues have some thoughts on this:
Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema hold the reins on President Joe Biden’s jobs and families plan, and their fellow Democrats are struggling with how to handle it.
Led by Manchin’s media tour on Sunday shows and in the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages, the two moderate senators are essentially dictating the final terms of what their colleagues have envisioned as a transformational social spending, tax and environmental package. Manchin’s willingness to take his argument to the public has progressives seething and has made him the focal point of angst within the Democratic Party’s small majorities.
Asked if he was aligned with Manchin on reconciliation, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) cracked: “Are you crazy? Are you trying to get me shot? I’d never, ever want to be aligned with Joe Manchin. My wife would divorce me.”
“Joe is Joe. Joe is going to hammer it out, the way he wants to hammer it out and go from there. We both have similar values but we certainly don’t think alike,” added Tester, who’s been more comfortable with the $3.5 trillion spending number that Manchin has rejected but wants it paid for. He said the two have not discussed the reconciliation bill in detail.
As consideration of the partisan spending bill hits crunch time, Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sinema (D-Ariz.) are aiming at shaving the package down so much that it could endanger much of the House's work so far in completing several sections of the $3.5 trillion package. The party had hoped to have a bill that could pass both the House and Senate sometime this month, a goal that appears increasingly herculean.
The problem is that Manchin can’t really seem to name anything he wants to cut:
Here's what Joe Manchin knows: There's no way, no how, that he is voting for the proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill being pushed by Senate Democrats.
Here's what Joe Manchin appears to have no clue about: What size spending bill he would vote for.
This exchange, which is long but worth it, between CNN's Dana Bash and the West Virginia Democratic Senator on Sunday is illustrative of both of those points:
Bash: Do you have a specific number in mind?
Manchin: Here's a number you should be getting to. First of all, I have agreed to get onto the reconciliation, because that's the time for us to make financial adjustments and changes. I thought the 2017 tax code and tax law, the way it was changed, was barely -- very, very unfair. And it was weighted to the heavy -- to the wealthy.
Bash: So what's the number?
Manchin: And bottom line is, what's -- the number would be what's going to be competitive in our tax code.
I believe the corporate rate should be at 25, not 21.
Bash: But what's the overall number for the budget bill?
Manchin: You know, I think that you're going to have to look at it and find out what you're able to do through a reasonable, responsible way.
Bash: So, then how do you know that it's not 3.5?
Manchin: And if that's going to be at 1.5, if it's going to be 1, 1.5 -- we don't know where it's going to be.
Bash: So, you think, ballpark, 1, 1.5?
Manchin: It's not going to be at 3.5, I can assure you.
But, with that, whatever it is, once you have a competitive tax code that you can compete globally, and then you should look at what the need is. What's the urgency and the need that we have?
Bash: And I'm -- again, I want to get to that, but just because this is -- this is the thing that people consume. Do you have a ceiling?
Manchin: I -- my ceiling is this, the need of the American people, and for us to basically take in consideration inflation. No one's concerning about the debt. Our debt as of Friday was 28.7 trillion? And we're not even talking about that. No one is talking about that.
Bash: So, 1 -- you just said 1.5. It sounds like $1.5 trillion is your number?
Manchin: I'm just saying that, basically -- well, I have looked at numbers. If we have a competitive tax code from a noncompetitive, doesn't help the working person that was done in 2017, that's in the 1, 1.5 range, OK? If that's where it is, shouldn't you be looking at, what does it take now to meet the urgent needs that we have that we haven't already met?
Soooo......
If you weren't counting, Dana asked Manchin SEVEN times what the number would be that he could vote for. And seven times Manchin hedged. Even when she pushed on a number he had thrown out -- $1.5 trillion -- he wouldn't commit to that!
Friendly reminder, Manchin called for a $ trillion infrastructure bill earlier this year:
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia called for up to $4 trillion in infrastructure spending over the weekend as Democrats are on the verge of controlling Congress for at least the next two years.
"The most important thing? Do infrastructure. Spend $2, $3, $4 trillion over a 10-year period on infrastructure," he told Inside West Virginia Politics, a news program. "A lot of people have lost their jobs and those jobs aren't coming back. They need a place to work."
Manchin will likely wield large influence in a Senate which will be evenly divided between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will cast the tie-breaking vote, giving Democrats narrow control over the chamber.
Last year, Biden introduced a $2 trillion plan to invest into clean energy and infrastructure. It includes provisions to expand public transportation, universal broadband, and boosted research and development spending for renewable sources of energy.
But here’s what we know he opposes and I want to highlight a certain quote from one of his colleagues:
In addition to opposing certain climate provisions in the bill, Manchin has expressed unease with its level of spending on care for the elderly as well as monthly benefits for parents. Manchin voted for the American Rescue Plan, which started the payments as a means of relief amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but is now suggesting the program should include work or education requirements.
“Don’t you think, if we’re going to help the children, that the people should make some effort?” Manchin asked in a Sunday interview.
But his colleagues noted that restricting the number of people who would benefit from such programs would hurt Manchin’s own constituents in one of the nation’s poorest states.
“All the stuff we’re talking about affects West Virginia as much, maybe more, than my state of Connecticut. I hope that’s something that will be meaningful to him,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told HuffPost.
Democrats are proposing to keep the monthly payments going through 2025 as part of their reconciliation package. It’s unclear, however, if the program will continue in its current form with moderates like Manchin insisting on changes.
“My own personal view is that would be counterproductive to the children who need help the most,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said when asked about adding work requirements to the family benefit programs.
Emphasis Mine.
So let’s get this straight: Senator Blumenthal is doing more to help the people of West Virginia than their own Senator. In fact, the only people Manchin seems interested in helping is Exxon Mobile, or at least he denies that:
On Sunday, host Dana Bash asked the senator about a tweet sent by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) where she claimed Manchin engaged in “weekly huddles with Exxon” and that he “gives lobbyists [his] pen to write so-called bipartisan fossil fuels bills.”
“Is it true that you have weekly meetings with Exxon and other lobbyists for fossil fuels?” Bash asked.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Manchin replied. “And you ask them if they have ever — no, they don’t — weekly meetings, I don’t.”
“It’s just false?” Bash clarified.
Manchin hedged a bit, responding that he keeps his door open for all but denying the weekly Exxon meetings.
By the way, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D. NY), is powering through:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed Monday to hold the line and deliver sweeping climate change action in Democrats' party-line social spending bill — though he offered no concrete plans for winning over centrists who’ve expressed reservations.
Flanked by a half-dozen climate hawks during a sweltering afternoon press conference, Schumer said his caucus was doing “everything” it could to meet or exceed President Joe Biden’s goal of curbing U.S. emissions 50 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels.
“The bottom line for all of us is: We can't let this moment pass us by,” Schumer said at the event, hosted by the environmental groups League of Conservation Voters and Climate Power. “The Senate will act in a way that's commensurate with the magnitude of the climate crisis.”
Left unsaid is how the Democrats would allay the concerns of moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) who’ve chafed at the overall price tag of the $3.5 trillion package, and the contents of climate change provisions specifically, in Manchin's case. Nonetheless, Schumer's comments amount to significant leadership buy-in as green activists and Democrats push corporate America to back their climate efforts in the reconciliation package.
Also, apparently Sinema has a whole bunch of spreadsheets ready to go:
Between the lines: Sinema and Manchin aren’t necessarily on the same page on which programs — and which tax increases — they can stomach.
- Crafting a deal to address Manchin’s concerns doesn’t ensure Sinema also will be happy.
Behind the scenes: Sinema refers to her spreadsheets as she strategizes with colleagues about next steps in the budget process.
- As House and Senate committees begin to write specific legislation, she’s updating her data to ensure she has accurate top- and bottom-line figures.
The bottom line: By internalizing the numbers, Sinema is prepared to challenge parts of Biden's overall $3.5 trillion package.
- She’s also putting herself in a position to cut deals, as she did when she helped broker the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package.
- It received 69 votes, including 19 Republicans, in the Senate last month.
If you’re one of Manchin or Sindema’s constituents, they need to hear from you. Click below to contact them and let them know you support the full $3.5 trillion package:
Click here to contact Manchin’s office.
Click here to contact Sinema’s office.
Also, let’s show Senator Blumenthal we have his back and support his work. Click here to donate and get involved with Blumenthal’s re-election campaign.