Sen. Joe Manchin said Thursday he may block fellow Democrats’ plan to first pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and then heave all remaining items into a budget reconciliation bill that’s rammed through Congress without Republicans.
A group of 21 bipartisan senators reached an agreement Wednesday on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan, which they will discuss with President Biden around noon Thursday at the White House.
But Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters he would only support budget reconciliation if he’s told what would be in the package — pouring cold water on left-wing hopes for an expansive second package that hikes taxes, subsidizes electric cars and finances social spending such as on health care.
Democratic leaders in Congress and White House officials openly say they plan to pursue both a bipartisan bill and a budget reconciliation process that circumvents the usual 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
Manchin could single-handedly block the use of budget reconciliation in the evenly divided Senate.
“We have to see what’s in the other plan before I can say, ‘Oh yes, you vote for this and I’ll vote for that.’ That’s not what I have signed up for. I only signed up for what’s in the plan that makes sense, keeps us competitive and also takes care of the needs of Americans,” Manchin said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday she was undeterred — and that House Democrats won’t go along with a bipartisan package unless there’s also a reconciliation plan too.
“Let me be really clear on this: We will not take up a bill in the House until the Senate passes the bipartisan bill and a reconciliation bill. If there is no bipartisan bill, then we’ll just go when the Senate passes a reconciliation bill,” Pelosi said at a press conference.
Pelosi added: “There ain’t going to be an infrastructure bill unless we have the reconciliation bill passed by the United States Senate.”
Biden originally proposed a $2.3 trillion infrastructure package and a complementary $1.8 trillion “families” plan. Republicans said the bills were too costly and vowed to block social spending and tax increases on businesses, higher incomes and investments.
Senate Democrats led by Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) this month floated a new $6 trillion plan that could be passed through reconciliation.
Manchin scoffed at the $6 trillion infrastructure blueprint.
“That sounds extremely, extremely high,” he said.