Joe Manchin said Democrats should 'hit the pause button' on $3.5 trillion spending plan and demands cuts to Biden economic package

• Joe Manchin came out in opposition to the price tag of the Democrats' spending plan and wants cuts.
• The West Virginia senator also urged his party to "hit the pause button" on its passage.
• He may force Democrats to slow down on approving swaths of Biden's economic agenda.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said Democrats should "hit the pause button" on their $3.5 trillion social-welfare bill and urged cuts, a step that could imperil swaths of President Joe Biden's economic plans.

"Let's sit back. Let's see what happens. We have so much on our plate. We really have an awful lot. I think that would be the prudent, wise thing to do," he said at an event for the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. Bloomberg first reported the remarks.

Then he came out in opposition to the package's price tag in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Thursday.

"I have always said if I can't explain it, I can't vote for it, and I can't explain why my Democratic colleagues are rushing to spend $3.5 trillion," he wrote. He doubled down in his concerns about runaway inflation and cited a wide assortment of issues he argued Congress should address, including the fallout of the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The West Virginia Democrat's opposition may force Democrats to tear up their plans for passage of the party-line bill this month. It also raises the prospect of sizable reductions to the plan, given Democrats can't afford any defections in the 50-50 Senate in their drive to transform the economy. Manchin joins Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona in saying he wants to see a smaller package instead.

The plan is poised to include tuition-free community college, universal pre-K, Medicare expansion, and an extension of Biden's child allowance among other provisions. Democrats are eyeing a collection of tax hikes on wealthy Americans and large businesses to pay for the package, partially rolling back President Donald Trump's signature tax law.

Progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez assailed Manchin after he went public with his views on Thursday. She slammed "bipartisan corruption" while Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal wrote on Twitter that Democrats would "absolutely not" slow down their efforts to expand the safety net.

Every Senate Democrat must back the plan's passage through the process the party is employing, which is known as reconciliation. That enables the party to bypass what is likely to be unanimous Republican opposition and approve the bill with only a simple majority in the Senate. But their success will hinge on the party's progressive and moderate wings moving in lockstep and bridging divides on taxes, healthcare, and the safety net.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a Thursday-evening interview that Democrats would be able to finance the plan without it adding to inflation and rising prices.

"The bottom line is we will be able to pay for the priorities the caucus supports," Wyden said.

"I think Senate Democrats understand the opportunity to legislate doesn't come across very often," Wyden told Insider. "Failure cannot be an option."

He said there was a renewed focus among Democrats on delivering tangible improvements for people's lives as they seek to preserve their wafer-thin majorities in the House and Senate ahead of next year's midterms.

"I think Democrats feel very strongly that it's important to move now so, in particular, we have results to show the American people a year from now in the late summer or early fall of 2022," he said. "The best politics is good policy."

Manchin told Insider in July he was alarmed about rising inflation as Democrats kicked off debate on Biden's infrastructure plans. Some economists say the party-line bill wouldn't cause a surge in the price of goods because many programs would take years to implement.

"The reconciliation package is going to be mostly paid for, and it's spread out over a decade," Jason Furman, a former top economist to President Barack Obama, told Insider last month. "It adds to the productive capacity of the economy, so I'm not worried about it adding to inflation."

Some Democratic aides, who were granted anonymity so they could speak candidly, were irked by Manchin and said the West Virginia Democrat offered few specifics in the op-ed.

"It's very hard to understand what the precise complaints are," a Senate Democratic aide told Insider. "The West is on fire, the Northeast is submerged, and there's no power in the state of Louisiana. These are crises we need to address."

A House Democratic aide said Manchin "craves" attention but added that he may end up sinking the passage of a bipartisan infrastructure bill in the House later this month. Progressives have vowed to torpedo it if it's not passed alongside the party-line package.

A collision of critical deadlines

Congress faces a collision of deadlines this month, including a September 30 deadline to pass a new funding bill to keep the government's doors open, along with a looming debt-ceiling showdown with Republicans.

The House advanced the budget blueprint last week, paving the way for committees to start assembling the social-welfare package. Democrats intend to move that legislation in tandem with a $1 trillion infrastructure plan focused on roads and bridges and approve them simultaneously. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly insisted she wouldn't take up the infrastructure bill until the Senate cleared a full party-line spending package.

But she faced a short-lived rebellion from 10 moderate lawmakers who demanded the bipartisan bill's quick approval, which threatened to derail a large part of Biden's domestic agenda. To secure their votes, Pelosi struck a deal to put up a September 27 vote regardless of whether the partisan spending plan had passed the Senate.

As Manchin is pushing for the bipartisan infrastructure bill to be passed before the reconciliation bill, many progressives have said the opposite to ensure climate and care-economy measures are not left behind.

Jayapal said in a statement after the House passage of the reconciliation bill that her position "remains unchanged" on the order the bills should be passed.

"As our members have made clear for three months, the two are integrally tied together, and we will only vote for the infrastructure bill after passing the reconciliation bill," Jayapal said in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also stressed the "horrendous" outcomes for the climate that would come with not quickly passing the reconciliation bill - a sentiment that has been expressed since the bipartisan infrastructure plan was passed.