Manchin to Dems: Redo the whole thing, maybe I’ll vote for it

He added, “Well you know what? I’m from West Virginia. I’m not where they come from [where] You can just beat the living crap out of people and think that they are submissive. “

Manchin advised Democrats to get legislation through the committee for a chance of success, saying party leaders had rejected his applications for the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. This bill was budget-voted on party line, but Manchin said it won’t happen again without the committee process.

“I’m not going to go into everything you want to do, big political changes and reconciliation. It has to go through a process, ”added Manchin. The House of Representatives held committee hearings on legislation, the Senate did not.

Manchin’s comments on Monday put him directly at odds with Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who is considering other tactics. Schumer sent a letter to members Monday morning saying he would put the $ 1.7 trillion Education, Childcare, Climate and Tax Reform Bill to a vote “so that every member of this body has the opportunity to share their position to publicize the floor in the Senate, not just on television. ”

Many Democrats called for such a vote after Manchin announced that they would not be able to support the law. And in a sign that Schumer is serious, employees from both parties continued to meet with the Senate MP and discuss which parts of the bill they might need to drop so that the law can be passed under the rules of the Senate with a simple majority threshold, so two people familiar with the law The reason.

“We will vote on a revised version of the Build Back Better Act passed by the house – and we will continue to vote on it until we have something done,” said Schumer on Monday.

It’s a risky move given the tension between Manchin and other Democrats. Some people clearly want weeks, if not months, to come up with another bill that would means test the benefits and reduce the number of programs in the package to a 10-year budget window. But many Democrats see this as just another delay, as Manchin has not yet finally committed to passing new laws.

Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) Said Manchin called her this morning.

“I took his call and I didn’t say anything here that I didn’t tell him,” Jayapal said shortly after telling reporters that Manchin had withdrawn his word to the White House. “That lack of integrity is breathtaking in a city where people say the only thing you have is your word.”

After Build Back Better stalled, the Washington Democrat said she wanted the Biden administration to take executive action on climate change instead, among other things.

And when relationships are strained on Capitol Hill, things are much worse a few blocks up Pennsylvania Avenue, where White House press secretary Jen Psaki accused Manchin of breaking his word to the president on Sunday. This move cheered many Democrats who were frustrated with Manchin, but created a new level of hostility between the West Virginia Democrats and the West Wing, who cannot afford to alienate Manchin in a 50-50 Senate.

Some people doubted Biden’s statement Thursday that the two could continue negotiating to reach an agreement, saying of Biden: “He knew we couldn’t get there.” Otherwise, he did not criticize the President directly on Monday, but lightened the White House staff.

“I have just reached the end of my wisdom. And they know the real reason what happened. They won’t tell you and I won’t tell you, ”said Manchin. “It’s not the president, it’s the staff. They drove some things and brought out some things that were absolutely inexcusable. “

Manchin’s comments appear to be in response to last week’s announcement that he was against adding the expanded child tax credit to legislation. Manchin later made it clear that he did not want the law to end the program after a year if the rest of his party hoped it would become permanent. The dispute was critical to Manchin’s position as it set sales totaling $ 1.75 trillion; a 10-year expanded tax credit at its current level would gobble up almost all of the money and invalidate analysis that said the package’s programs were fully funded. The credit expires this month.

Schumer and Manchin both signed a document in July showing that Manchin wanted a $ 1.5 trillion bill with less generous benefits than the rest of his party expected, including far more targeted child tax credits for low and middle income families. He said no matter how the Democrats tried to tweak the bill to fit that shape, it never got close to his bottom line.

“We were far apart philosophically,” said Manchin. “The same bill I have in front of me that they kept showing me was the same $ 6 trillion bill from the start.”

The Senate Democrats will discuss the party’s plight on Tuesday evening, a special virtual session on the longest night of the year. And if there is one ray of hope for the Democrats in all of this, it is that Manchin is still determined to reverse the 2017 tax cuts signed by President Donald Trump.

In fact, Manchin said the only reason he voted for a $ 3.5 trillion budget decision this summer that paved the way for Democrats to continue negotiating the bill was because he was so eager to see it was to “set taxes so that everyone pays their fair amount”. Divide.”

“We have a chance, OK? They have the ability to set the tax laws that make them fair and equitable, ”said Manchin. “So if we all disagree with the Republicans’ reconciliation over tax cuts, don’t you think we can sit down and establish a fair and equitable tax law?”

But even that is not easy in a 50-50 Senate. Although Manchin’s proposals to increase corporate and wealthy taxes are widely popular with Democratic senators, Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) Rejected the Manchin-sponsored tax increases. She hasn’t commented on it since Manchin destroyed Biden’s vision.

Nicholas Wu and Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.