Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) is acting like the Republican opposition as he has become the chief obstacle to quick passage of President Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure package that Democrats want to move through Congress sooner rather than later.
Manchin is so in bed with Republicans that some GOP senators are even optimistic that the moderate Democrat can be persuaded to block efforts to raise the corporate tax rate.
The development can force Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to wait for the negotiations to reach some kind of conclusion before moving ahead with the budget reconciliation process, as Manchin is expected to be the critical 50th Democratic vote needed to avoid a GOP filibuster.
Manchin reportedly wants to discuss a Republican-proposed scaled-down infrastructure package of $568 billion as bipartisan talks on a compromise proposal between $600 billion and $1 trillion are just getting started.
Manchin wants time for the talks to build momentum.
“For the sake of our country, we have to show we can work in a bipartisan way,” he said Monday evening, according to The Hill. “I don’t know what the rush is.”
From The Hill:
“Democrats are getting nervous about an extended timeline and worry that splitting Biden’s infrastructure agenda into two or three pieces of legislation might mean that a substantial part of it gets left behind.
“I’m the most anxious member of the Democratic caucus. I want to get it done and done quickly,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday when asked how long Democrats are willing to wait on bipartisan infrastructure talks.
Manchin said over the weekend that he wants to focus on “conventional infrastructure” such as roads, bridges, water projects and expanded broadband internet, and he proposed splitting off about $400 billion in funding for home- and community-based caregivers for the elderly and people with disabilities, as well as billions of dollars for child care.
While Manchin said such priorities are “needed,” he added that doesn’t want to lump too many of them in a broad bill because he thinks it would be tougher to sell to the public.
His remarks dealt a blow to other Senate Democrats who want to pass as large a package as possible and who called the $568 billion Republican proposal “totally inadequate” and a “slap in the face.”
Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, on Monday said he does not support splitting up Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure package into two pieces.
“Time is not on our side. We have so many things to do,” he said. “Immigration, policing. All of these things are critical elements and we don’t have a lot of time on the calendar.”
“The sooner the better to keep everything together and move it in a package that works,” he added of Biden’s proposal.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he wants to move as quickly as possible, warning that past efforts to negotiate with Republicans, such as on the Affordable Care Act in 2009, ended up wasting time.
“We have learned that lesson in the past. I think we should have our ears open, we should listen to any great ideas, any good ideas that Republicans have. But obviously it cannot be an endless process. It has to move very quickly,” he said Monday.
Sanders balked at Manchin’s suggestion of segmenting out the home- and community-based care portions of the package.
Manchin, however, is praising the $568 billion framework put together by fellow West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R) as “a good start.” The blueprint is focused on roads, bridges, transit systems, rail, water infrastructure and airports.
Democrats are also nervous about Manchin’s opposition to Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, saying a 25 percent rate is more reasonable.
The report noted that “If Manchin drags out consideration of the infrastructure package for weeks or months without securing any GOP votes for whatever bill finally gets passed, some Democrats say his reputation as a dealmaker will suffer severely.”
“That’s what’s at risk for him. He’s going to have to put up or shut up,” said the Democratic aide.
