- Sen.
Joe Manchin said he doesn't seeDemocrats reaching a deal on social spending "anytime soon." - Some House Democrats set a goal to have a framework for the bill by this Friday.
Sen. Joe Manchin told reporters Thursday that he doesn't think Democrats will reach a deal on a social-spending bill by the end of the week.
"This is not gonna happen anytime soon, guys," the West Virginia Democrat said.
Democrats have been trying to reach an agreement on a reconciliation bill this week that would appease both progressives and moderate holdouts. The initial $3.5 trillion legislation has already been scaled back - President Joe Biden suggested the final price tag could be as low as $1.75 trillion - with Biden reportedly willing to cut funding for free community college from the bill. Clean-energy initiatives are also on the chopping block, as well as a shorter-than-anticipated extension of the $300 monthly child tax credit checks to families and a rollback of Trump's tax cuts.
Some Democratic lawmakers had hoped to have a framework for the reconciliation bill by the end of this week. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said during a Thursday press briefing that the House is still on schedule for that timeline, but given Manchin, and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's opposition to a range of measures in the bill, getting a framework by the end of this week seems unlikely.
When asked by reporters if a deal can be reached by Friday, Sinema said: "Don't ask me. I can't answer that question."
Manchin and Sinema are the lone Democratic senators opposing the legislation as all Republican senators refuse to give it any support.
Democrats are working to determine what will make it into their smaller social-spending bill, given Manchin and Sinema's pricing toplines.
On item in jeopardy is a major climate provision that would rapidly cut carbon emissions. Insider previously reported that Manchin is responsible for getting the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) cut from the bill, given that he is from a historically coal-rich state, and won't support any measure that could be seen to disadvantage the coal industry.
The omission of CEPP could hurt Biden's goal to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, and he wants Democrats to figure out a solution before he heads to Scotland next week for the United Nations climate summit.
Meanwhile, as Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported, Sinema's opposition to rolling back President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts is throwing Democrats' plans to raise taxes on the wealthy for a loop, setting off a last-ditch effort to seek alternatives that can lock in the centrist Democrat's support.
Whether Democrats can reach a deal on the framework of their social-spending bill by Friday remains to be seen, but Sinema and Manchin's blocking of progressive priorities has many lawmakers frustrated.
"Two people do not have the right to sabotage what 48 want," Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, previously said, "what the president of the United States wants."