WASHINGTON – Democrats worked hard Tuesday to resolve disputes over President Joe Biden build back better proposed, but doubts remained that a deal could be struck quickly amid fresh uncertainty around a potential billionaire tax and new tensions over climate change.
“It’s just that hard. Everything is so hard,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.VA, a leading centrist who could make or break Key components of Biden’s broader agenda.
is munchkin express concern With programs that guarantee paid leave and expand Medicaid coverage. He did not specify what changes could be made to gain his support on those provisions.
“Everything is under negotiation,” he told reporters. “Everyone’s talking creatively. Everyone’s trying to work and pursue that path.”
Asked whether his proposed $1.5 trillion spending limit could be raised to secure a deal, Manchin balked.
“I’m not going to have a conversation with you,” Manchin told NBC News.
The starting price for the spending package was $3.5 trillion, but negotiations have made it more likely that the top line will fall below $2 trillion.
Manchin also called for rapid reform of the bill’s approach to clean energy. He was welcomed outside the Capitol Tuesday afternoon by an environmental activist affiliated with the Sunrise Movement, and some progressive senators are looking to add language that would benefit the fossil fuel industry.
“There are provisions that are being considered as part of this package that will be dire for the climate down the road,” Sen. Jeff Merkle, D-Ore. Referring to ideas that would “extend the life of methane” and propel it. Towards the US “Blue Hydrogen”.
Merkle said pending issues for the bill as a whole include climate policy, the Medicaid coverage gap, Medicare drug negotiations and Medicare expansion to cover dental, vision and hearing benefits.
“There are huge pieces of it that haven’t been finished. So every time I hear, ‘Okay, it’s almost done,’ I don’t know what people are talking about,” he said. said.
The White House is not expecting a significant breakthrough Tuesday, several officials told NBC News. Officials said the president and his top aides continue to have meetings and calls with lawmakers, and Biden has met with several members of Congress for a closed-door meeting at the White House earlier in the day.
The White House is still working on issues such as health care, taxes and paid leave, one official said.
One of the unresolved issues is how to finance the bill after San Kirsten Cinemas, D-Ariz., objected to higher tax rates for rich earners and corporations.
Democrats in recent days have created a new revenue raiser that would require billionaires to pay taxes on the “inherent profits” that their wealth has earned. Manchin has expressed openness to this idea.
But Representative Richard Neal, D-Mass., chairman of the House tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, voiced uncertainty, saying his members had not yet reviewed the text or examined the proposal.
“We’ll have to see what traffic will tolerate,” he said, while Democrats are all working to get “above the target line.”
Senate Finance Speaker Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Said that the legislative language could come out by Tuesday night. All 50 Democratic votes would be needed to advance to the Senate, and some of them have yet to be sold.
“I won’t answer this until I have a better understanding of asset classes,” said Sen. Chris Koons, D-Del. “I have to go see it and have someone who works for me walk me through it.”
Two tax proposals with widespread support among Democrats are a 15 percent minimum corporate tax and strengthen IRS enforcement to collect more revenue. House leaders are also considering an additional tax for Americans with an annual income of more than $5 million, or $10 million.
Indicating support for a 15 per cent minimum rate, Cinema said in a statement that it was “a general step towards ensuring highly profitable corporations … pay the appropriate minimum corporate tax on their profits.”
Senate Budget Speaker Bernie Sanders, I-VT, has insisted that Medicare should be expanded to include dental, vision and hearing coverage, saying it is non-negotiable. Amid Manchin’s skepticism about the cost, Democrats are weighing a solution: give vouchers to seniors instead of guaranteeing those benefits.
Democrats are also scrambling to save some prized programs. A four-week reduced paid leave plan is no longer likely to be included in the bill because of Manchin’s protests, but Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D.N.Y., said she is working on a new version with the hope that Munchkin will support it. .
Sen. John Osoff, D-Ga., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., are lobbying to include expanded Medicaid coverage, which would primarily benefit southern states led by Republican governors and GOP state legislatures. who did not expand the federal. program.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Tuesday that “90 percent” of the over bill is written, and she expects to reach an agreement this week.
She said on CNN on Sunday that she “plans” to pass a separate infrastructure bill by Wednesday. The Senate passed that measure in August with bipartisan support.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said Pelosi has encouraged lawmakers not to draw a “red line” on policies like paid leave, which can happen on the chopping block.
At his closed-door weekly caucus meeting, Pelosi gave a status update on the social safety net and infrastructure bills, telling members he would go ahead with a vote on infrastructure if he had more details and a Build Back Better Plan. But there is an agreement, said three sources in the room.
While the final details are still being worked out, Pelosi attempted to rally her members, urging them to “embracing” the safety net package because “no bill is everything,” sources said.
As far as the billionaire tax is concerned, Pelosi hasn’t put any weight behind it.
“We haven’t seen a single written word about the billionaires’ tax,” she said.
A source said Pelosi said Democrats are on the verge of becoming “something major — transformative, historic and bigger than anything.”