President Joe Biden's $2 trillion climate and social spending package, which appeared to be on track when it cleared the House a month ago, now looks to be in serious jeopardy in the Senate. Senators from both parties have already admitted that the Build Back Better Act will not be passed by the end of the year as they had planned.
According to a Senate Republican aide, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Republicans are close to reaching an agreement to confirm a group of nominees and postpone the confirmation of others until January, clearing the Senate calendar for the rest of 2021 and allowing senators to return home for the holidays.
Biden acknowledges Build Back Better won't be passed this year
Perhaps more critically, the entire Build Back Better package may need to be altered to satisfy Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) objection to include a one-year renewal of the enhanced Child Tax Credit in the measure.
Per The Hill, Manchin said he is not opposed to the tax credit, which he has supported in the past. However, he claims that the full cost of the credit is not represented in the current bill's official Congressional Budget Office score because the credit is expected to be renewed over the next decade.
The West Virginia senator wants the law to reflect the tax credit's 10-year cost, which would need further tax rises or budget cuts to keep the plan's official cost from skyrocketing.
With the Senate equally divided, Democrats recognize that they won't be able to go forward without Manchin, and the bill will have to be postponed until 2022, and dissatisfaction is on the rise.
President Joe Biden said on Thursday that his massive social-spending and climate-policy package is unlikely to pass before the year's conclusion. More time is needed, according to Biden, to ratify agreements, translate those agreements into legislation text, and complete other procedural tasks.
Biden stated that work would continue "in the days and weeks ahead," but he expressed optimism that differences with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a crucial holdout, will be overcome. Progressives in the House said senators should not go home for the holidays until the infrastructure plan is completed, citing Biden's pledge that the Senate will likewise pass Build Back Better.
Manchin stalls Democrats' efforts to pass Build Back Better
Senate Democrats are "frustrated and disappointed," according to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who said they are "frustrated and dismayed" by the lack of unanimity among themselves, USA Today reported. However, Durbin believes Biden is doing everything he can to break the deadlock. Manchin has spent so much time at the White House that he's "camped out in the Lincoln Bedroom and has his own parking place," according to Durbin.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed the President's bill's stalling on the Senate floor on Thursday. Democrats' increasing focus on voting rights legislation was one hint that Build Back Better was on the brink.
Per Daily Mail, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated on Thursday that he wants voting rights laws "done in time for the 2022 elections," referring to the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, both of which were passed by the House.
Senators Chuck Schumer, Tim Kaine, Angus King, Amy Klobuchar, Jeff Merkely, Jon Tester, Raphael Warnock, and Joe Manchin participated in a Zoom conversation with Biden at the White House on Thursday.
During his trip to Kentucky on Wednesday, the president was asked if voting rights legislation should come first as Build Back Better was faltering. When asked if this meant Biden wanted voting rights bills to go before a vote on Build Back Better during Thursday's press conference, deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn't provide a clear response.
She claimed Biden "will continue to work with Congress to get this done," but she didn't elaborate. Jean-Pierre also refused to provide an update on the status of Build Back Better.
Related Article: Democrats' $2 Trillion Spending Plan in Political Peril as Talks with Joe Manchin Show Signs of Melting Down
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