Despite a desire by the Democratic Party leadership to pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the social spending legislation by Thanksgiving, Sen. Joe Manchin said there is no rush to get a deal done, The Hill reported on Tuesday.
The West Virginia Democrat did say the party is "going to get something done," but he didn’t view the weeklong break that is scheduled to start on Nov. 22 as a hard deadline.
"I’m not putting restraints on timing," Manchin said. "I just think it’s going to take quite a while. ... I think time's going to be needed. We’re not in a rush right now."
The senator added that he wants a Congressional Budget Office analysis on the impact and costs of the social spending legislation, which he still did not back, including Medicare expansion or paid leave in the bill.
When asked about Medicare, Manchin said, "I’m not for any expansions that basically, that has a trust fund that is insolvent."
At the start of this week, the general consensus among Democrats was that an agreement had been reached on at least a framework for the social spending bill and that there could be votes on legislation already this week, but Manchin’s announcement on Monday that he didn’t sign off on a framework for a $1.75 trillion bill before it was released from the White House on Thursday destroyed those hopes, CNN reported.
Manchin insisted that attempts by the progressives in his party to secure his vote for the safety spending bill in exchange for their backing of the $1.2 trillion "hard" infrastructure bill is not working — and won't sway him in the future either.
He said that "I'm open to supporting a final [social spending] bill that helps move our country forward, but I'm equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country."
In making the statement, Manchin cited inflation and budget deficits as his main concerns, according to Politico.
The West Virginia senator insisted that "it is time to vote on the [bipartisan infrastructure] bill, up or down," stressing that "holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support" for the social spending legislation, CNN reported.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.