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WASHINGTON — If Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia ruled the world, the Democrats’ marquee domestic policy bill would be much different than what President Biden and top Democrats propose.
And in an evenly divided Senate, where Democrats need the support of every member to implement the package, Mr Manchin, one of his party’s sole supporters of the bill, could also become king.
Mr Manchin isn’t afraid to show what he wants to see: a much cheaper, less generous, more targeted and less environmentally friendly measure than Mr. Biden and the Democrats envisioned.
Their desires and concerns largely drive the negotiations on what the final package should look like. Highlighting their place in the debate, Mr. Manchin and Mr. Biden spoke on the phone Monday, according to a person familiar with the conversation. The Senator also met privately with Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to discuss the plan. And Mr. Manchin told reporters that he had spoken to Senator Bernie Sanders, Vermont independent and chairman of the Budget Committee, and was particularly critical of Mr. Manchin’s views.
Talks will continue Tuesday, when the White House plans a series of more meetings with moderate and liberal Democrats to try to find compromises.
Mr Manchin has this in mind.
A plan that does not exceed $1.5 trillion
Mr Manchin insisted that he didn’t want the bill to cost more than $1.5 trillion over a decade, $2 trillion less than the package included in the Democrats’ budget plans.
“Congress must proceed cautiously about any additional spending and I will not vote for reckless expansion of government programs,” he said on Friday.
Mr Manchin said he was concerned, publicly and privately, that too much additional spending could worsen already high inflation. He said the government needed to cut back on its borrowing, at a time when most of his party had set aside concerns about the growing federal debt.
It wants any new expenses in the plan to be paid for with tax increases. And in a note outlining his priorities over the summer, Mr Manchin said the package should increase additional revenue to reduce the deficit.
Steeper tax increases
Mr. Manchin pushed for more tax increases than others in his party, focusing on generating the money needed to pay for the full plan.
Most notably, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Cinema, who has made another objection to the bill, has so far resisted the breadth of the Biden administration’s proposed tax increases, while Mr. Manchin has openly called for rolling back many of the tax cuts Republicans enacted in 2017. .
Manchin, in his memo this summer, said there was a change, including increasing the corporate rate from 21 percent to 25 percent, increasing the top individual income rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent, and raising the capital gains tax rate to 28 percent. The series outlined the tax increase. .
Weaker climate change provisions
In recent days, a proposed clean electricity program has emerged that aims to replace coal and gas-fired power plants with solar, nuclear and wind power. will likely be discarded Out of the pack due to Mr Manchin’s opposition.
Instead, White House officials and congressional staff are converging on the periphery. a possible tax on carbon dioxide pollution or a voluntary version of a cap and trade program to create a market for pollutants to buy and sell allowances for a given amount of emissions.
They are also considering adding $300 billion to the clean energy tax incentives and credits remaining on the bill as they look for ways to save parts of the clean electricity program. Mr. Manchin has previously said that he is open to these taxes and tax breaks, provided that fossil fuel tax credits are not repealed.
“We want to make sure we have reliable power,” he told reporters. “We basically cleaned up the environment more than at any time in the history of this world.”
Mr Manchin, whose the state produces Some of the highest coal and gas levels nationally have long been against anything that would penalize companies for not moving faster towards clean energy.
Less generous, more targeted federal aid
Mr. Manchin has long been concerned about the possibility of creating what he calls a “community of authority” with a broad web of universal benefits. At times, either pushed limit aid to those who need it most — an approach known as tool testing — or placing work requirements in certain programs.
It did not publicly explain how it would apply revenue testing to the package, which may vary by schedule. A Report by Axios He said he told the White House he wanted to limit a program that provides monthly payments to families with children to parents earning about $60,000 or less, and impose an employment requirement. (A spokesman for Mr. Manchin declined to comment on the accuracy of the report.)
Mr. Manchin has in the past succeeded in encouraging Democrats to shorten such programs. Biden acted alone on a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan this year until his administration and party leaders agreed. get unemployment benefits back and impose stricter income limit about eligibility for another round of direct payment.
Jim Tankersley and Coral Davenport contributing reporting.
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