Nancy Pelosi rejects Manchin’s call for a “pause”, shows little willingness to reduce the $ 3.5 trillion bill

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“Obviously, I disagree,” Pelosi told CNN when asked about Manchin’s advertising demand for Congress to curb compliance with a thick part of President Joe Biden’s national agenda this year. month.

“The number is the number, $ 3.5 (trillion), we can’t beat it,” Pelosi said. Asked about the likelihood of her falling from that level, the California Democrat replied, “Why?”

Manchin has been privately suggesting to his colleagues that between $ 1 trillion and $ 1.5 trillion is the price he could accept in the Democrat reconciliation bill, according to a source who has spoken to him. He has suggested that the 2017 tax law (which he opposed) could be amended to raise enough money to ensure the bill is paid in full, the source said.

Manchin, however, has indicated to his leadership that he is willing to negotiate, but that number is a fraction of the $ 3.5 trillion package the party is trying to unite behind, and that the Liberals are demanding. Manchin’s spokesman declined to comment.

Pressed Tuesday earlier on Manchin and Sinema’s resistance to the price, Pelosi said, “Well you have to go talk to this in the Senate, but we’ll pay for it as much as possible.”

The comments underscore the precarious situation Democrats find themselves in when they try to push for a multimillion-dollar economic package with most of the thinner majors, a proposal that would dramatically expand the social safety net and increase government spending on key democratic priorities in matter of health and health. climate change and raise taxes to help them pay them. Behind the scenes, Democrats continue to struggle to find consensus on a wide range of issues, including the expansion of Medicare called for by progressives.

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Pelosi downplayed the disagreements and argued that the bill would be “transformative” for women in the workplace.

“I’m very excited to know where we are,” Pelosi said. “Everyone is working very hard. The committees are doing their job. We have a good schedule and I’m very excited.”

But with a 50-50 Senate, Democrats cannot afford to lose a single vote to secure the passage of a $ 3.5 trillion bill, as the party uses a well-known process. as a reconciliation to evade the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold and instead pass the majority bill. All Republicans are expected to oppose it.

Manchin and Sinema have made it clear they will not support a bill at this price, and the West Virginia Democrat said last week that he will not support “toward this level of additional spending” without examining the effect on debt and inflation.

Instead, moderate Democrats have demanded that Pelosi be allowed to vote on the $ 1.2 billion bipartisan Senate infrastructure plan approved by the chamber last month. Still, Progressive Democrats have warned they would collapse the infrastructure plan if Manchin and other moderate senators maintain the larger reconciliation bill.
Pelosi accepted moderate Democrats last month and agreed to hold a vote on Sept. 27 on the infrastructure bill. But if the reconciliation proposal has not passed the Senate by then, it is unclear whether they would have the votes to push through the infrastructure bill and send it to the Biden counter.

“That’s the plan,” Pelosi said Tuesday when asked about the Sept. 27 infrastructure vote.

September is a month of great commitment to Biden’s agenda, as Democratic leaders have set a deadline of September 15 to finalize the reconciliation proposal, and House committees have already begun taking action on their individual pieces of the larger proposal.

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Last week, the House Natural Resources and Oversight Committees got votes from their $ 3.5 trillion share of the package, and House Natural Resources Chair Raul Grijalva of Arizona announced that the committee should meet again to finish its work. Several House committees will meet in the coming days to advance their individual parts of the bill, including the long-awaited Forms and Means Committee, responsible for fiscal policy, and Energy and Trade, which oversees climate change and health care. .

In addition, Congress faces a number of other deadlines that threaten to overwhelm the congressional calendar. At the end of the month a government funding deadline is approaching and there is also a struggle to resolve the outstanding debt ceiling.

Without a bill to raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. runs the risk of a potentially catastrophic debt default. And without a bill to keep the government open by the end of the month, federal agencies would close on Oct. 1.

Pelosi, who left the House floor on Tuesday, would not say how Democrats will try to deal with the debt ceiling rise and whether they will try to attach it to a mandatory bill to fund the government last September 30th. Democrats were expected to grant the debt ceiling a boost to the government funding law, with Republicans daring to vote against it.

Meanwhile, Republicans are stepping in to say they won’t approve an increase and are asking Democrats to approve it on their own.

“We would like to do it in a bipartisan way, of course, that’s how it’s always been done,” he told reporters.

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Pelosi would not say whether Democrats would try to approve an increase in the debt limit through the budget conciliation process, which would allow them to do so following straight lines from the Republican Party without votes. Democrats have rejected Republican Party calls to follow that path, saying Republicans should take on the burden of the politically toxic vote to raise the national debt limit.

“We have several options,” Pelosi said when asked if they would follow the party’s hotline if Republicans block the debt ceiling bill.

Pelosi indicated that the White House on Tuesday afternoon would send its request for the programs to be included in the “stop-gap” funding bill, known in the Capitol as a continuous resolution, or CR.

“So we have reconciliation, infrastructure, CR and somewhere from here we will make a debt ceiling,” he said.

This story was updated with additional reports on Tuesday.

Morgan Rimmer and Annie Grayer of CNN have collaborated.

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