Schumer and Manchin announced the deal Wednesday after more than a year of roller coaster negotiations. The deal is a major coup for Manchin, and the health and climate bill has a strong chance of becoming law in August — assuming Democrats can pass the bill in the House and it gets together with Senate Rep. to allow it to be approved on straight party lines in the budget process. The deal contains a number of Democratic goals. Although many details have not been disclosed, the measure would invest $369 billion in energy and climate change programs, with the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030, according to a one-page prospectus. For the first time, Medicare would be authorized to negotiate the prices of certain drugs and cap the cost at $2,000 for those enrolled in Medicare drug plans. It would also extend expiring enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act coverage for three years. On a local radio show Thursday, Manchin argued the bill should be well-received by both parties, saying it doesn’t “really” raise taxes and doesn’t raise inflation while creating good energy policy. “This is a bill for the country,” Manchin said. “It’s not a bill for Democrats. And it’s not a bill that Republicans should be worried about.” Biden spoke with Manchin and Schumer on Wednesday afternoon, he said in a statement thanking them — his first phone call with Manchin since December. “This is the action the American people have been waiting for. This addresses the problems of today — high health care costs and runaway inflation — as well as investing in our energy security for the future,” he said, calling on Congress to pass “the as soon as possible”. However, in the radio interview, Manchin said he and his staff worked with Schumer and his team to craft the so-called 2022 Inflation Act, saying Biden was “not involved.” “It was me and my staff,” Manchin told host Hoppy Kercheval. “And then we worked with Schumer’s staff. My staff was driving it. We wrote the bill. Schumer’s staff would look at it and we’d negotiate, and we worked it through them.” Manchin added: “President Biden was not involved.” There are factors complicating the quick passage of the bill — Senator Whip Dick Durbin announced Thursday that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and will self-isolate. For the bill to pass, Democrats will need all 50 of their senators to be present and vote in favor of the bill with Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaker as all Republicans are expected to vote against the deal. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the package, calling it “nonsense and goodies for the wealthy coastal elites.” “This is the nonsense the Democrats are focusing on,” McConnell said. “They’re not helping you put gas in your car, they’re not helping you afford your groceries. They want to use the middle class financial crisis they created as an excuse to raise your taxes and pass green new nonsense their”. He added: “Our colleagues across the aisle have already completely lost America’s confidence in the economy before this reckless tax and spending spree. Obviously, they now want to see how much further they can go.” Further complicating matters is Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a key moderate, who has yet to weigh in on the bill. He has previously raised concerns about taxes on carried interest, which would raise $14 billion under the deal. Cinema was not part of the negotiations for the current package. But in a closed-door meeting Thursday, Schumer privately told Democrats that now is the time to get a bill to address climate change and allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. “We now have an opportunity to get these two extremely important priorities passed before the August recess,” he said, according to a Democrat in the room. “It’s going to require us to stick together and work long days and nights for the next 10 days. We’re going to need to be disciplined in our messaging and our focus. It’s going to be tough. But I think we can do it… It’s done.” News of the deal surprised Republicans on Wednesday. The deal was announced shortly after the Senate passed a bill aimed at boosting US semiconductor manufacturing, legislation that McConnell had threatened to block if Democrats tried to pass a climate and economy package. Republican Senator Whip John Thune, when asked if the GOP gambled by letting the so-called CHIPS bill go through before the Democrats’ financial deal was closed, told CNN: “I think everybody was certainly surprised by the performances that were put on by the Democrats. about this deal, and I think there were some people who were blindsided — not only on our side but also on the Democratic side.” Asked if McConnell played it right, he said: “You’ll have to talk to him about that.” The bill — the full text of which has not been made public — would also need to pass the House, where Democrats hold a more substantial, but still slim, majority. Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, called the Manchin-Schumer deal “a significant step forward” and “a huge accomplishment,” expressing confidence in the deal on CNN’s “New Day.” “You’re welcome, Joe Manchin, happy to work with you to make this happen,” he said. But there are still landmines in the House, including whether to revise the caps on state and local tax credits that have been called for by a handful of mostly Northeastern Democrats. This story has been updated with additional developments. CNN’s Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.
