New year, same demands: Joe Manchin will consider supporting Biden's agenda if monthly child tax credits get an income limit — or are removed altogether

• Manchin tanked passage of Biden's agenda in 2021, largely because of the enhanced child tax credit.
• Axios reported Manchin is open to resuming negotiations if the CTC is cut or gets lower income caps.

While Democratic lawmakers were disappointed to end 2021 without passing President Joe Biden's sweeping climate and social-spending package, many of them remained confident that they would get it done in the new year.

But West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — the centrist Democrat holding out on the package — doesn't appear to be easing up on his demands.

Axios reported on Sunday that Manchin was open to revisiting negotiations on the Build Back Better agenda if the White House removed the monthly child-tax-credit payments from the package completely or significantly lowered the income cap for eligible families, citing people familiar with the matter.

This is a demand Manchin has long held. The expanded child tax credit would allow parents who earn below a certain income to receive monthly payments of $300 per child under 6 and $250 for a child between 6 and 18 for another year. But the last payment went out in December, and it has yet to be renewed because of Manchin's resistance.

"Do you believe people making $200,000 and $400,000 should still get the child tax credit the same as someone making $50,000, $60,000, or $70,000 that really needs it?" Manchin previously said. As Insider previously reported, the $200,000 and $400,000 levels are where the child tax credit phases out faster for individual or joint tax filers, and households making more than those levels each year already aren't able to receive the full credit.

As Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported, Manchin's objections to the monthly payments extended beyond an income cap. He also wanted to institute work requirements to receive the federal benefit and has raised concerns that parents would spend the payments on drugs.

It's unclear if Biden's agenda will make it to his desk for signature, but given that Democrats need 50 votes to pass the economic package, Manchin's support is crucial. The Washington Post reported that prior to sinking negotiations before Christmas, Manchin made a $1.8 trillion pitch to the White House that excluded the enhanced child tax credit, reflecting his firm stance that the monthly payments needed to be altered or removed altogether.

Still, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told his Democratic colleagues last month that despite Manchin's resistance, he would bring Build Back Better to a vote early this year to deliver on Democrats' promises.

Schumer wrote in a letter that "nearly all of us were disappointed by the decision to delay floor consideration of the Build Back Better Act because Senator Manchin could not come to an agreement with the president. However, neither that delay, nor other recent pronouncements, will deter us from continuing to find a way forward."

"We simply cannot give up," he added.