A day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and conservative Sen. Joe Manchin stunned Washington by resurrecting elements of a compromise many thought dead, early signs were encouraging for the party. After Schumer briefed Democratic senators on the 725-page measure, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the reaction from lawmakers was “uniformly positive.” And Reps. Tom Suozzi, DN.Y., and Tom Malinowski, DN.J., suggested they might support the measure, even though they lack the higher federal tax credits for state and local taxes they’ve supported in the past. “We are taking a huge step forward as a nation,” Biden said at the White House. In a message to lawmakers, he called it a compromise that was “the strongest bill you can pass” to address health care, climate, energy and the cost of living for families. “Pass it, pass it to the American people.” The Phoenix-like revival of the measure came Wednesday, when Manchin unexpectedly agreed to add tax, energy and environmental provisions to a plan he had earlier said he wanted to limit, for now, to caps on prescription drug prices and health care. care. He told reporters Thursday that his talks with Schumer continued and disputed that he had recused himself. “I’ve never reversed course in my life and I’ve never left,” Manchin, who has COVID-19 and has stayed away from Capitol Hill, said on a conference call. He also described what he said he has endured over the past year, when he repeatedly forced Biden and top Democrats to scale back what was originally a $3.5 trillion proposal. “Nobody in their right mind would go through all the protests, the harassment” he faced, Manchin said, after shooting down a version of about $2 trillion the House had passed after insisting on the cuts. He said Democrats “turned the dogs” on him two weeks ago after he told Schumer he wanted a limited health care measure this month because of inflation fears. He said he now supports the expanded bill “because I know I’m not adding inflation” to the deal. And he acknowledged that he wants the Mountain Valley pipeline, which would deliver natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia, to be at the “top of the heap” under the procedures that Biden and congressional leaders have pledged to pass this Congress autumn. Loose ends remain in a 50-50 Senate, where support from every Democrat — plus a tie from Vice President Kamala Harris — is needed to overcome unanimous Republican opposition that seems a foregone conclusion. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who last year joined Manchin in pushing for cuts and changes to larger versions of the plan, declined to tell reporters her stance. In the closely divided House, Democrats cannot lose more than four votes and prevail. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., leader of the centrist Blue Dog House Coalition, said she would not yet comment on her views. “I don’t think anybody’s particularly happy,” said No. 2 House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. “But I think the vast majority think the things in it are good things.” In total, the emerging package would raise $739 billion over a decade from higher taxes on huge corporations and hedge fund owners, a boost in IRS tax collections and lower federal costs from lower drug prices. It would spend $369 billion on energy and climate change initiatives, in what analysts and environmentalists called the largest federal investment ever in clean energy. Another $64 billion would extend health insurance subsidies for three years, leaving $306 billion for a modest hit to massive federal deficits. The measure is decidedly less ambitious than the $3.5 trillion version that stumbled, shriveled and ultimately died in Congress last year, largely because of Manchin’s opposition. The new bill lacks many of the party’s original goals, including funds for a more generous child tax credit, paid family leave, expanded Medicare benefits and health care assistance for poor families in the dozen states — mostly Republican and in the South. who refused to expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Even so, the surprise deal puts Biden and Democrats on the brink of claiming victory on top priorities like tackling global warming and easing consumer health care costs and boosting taxes on the wealthy to pay for her. “It’s bigger than nothing,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., who with other progressives fought unsuccessfully last year against Manchin’s efforts to limit the proposal. After Manchin won, “Many of us thought this was done unless we had more seats in the Senate, and the fact that we’re able to do something very important is impressive.” Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., another of his party’s most conservative lawmakers, called the bill’s prescription drug provisions “the most important bill we will pass in this Congress” other than last year’s infrastructure measure autumn. As leaders sold the plan to their members, the government reported that the economy had contracted for a second straight quarter. Worries that a recession was coming added to worries about the nation’s worst run of inflation since the 1980s. Both parties know that inflation and economic anxiety are uppermost in voters’ minds. With Republicans expected to win control of the House and possibly the Senate, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., turned his sights on the Democratic measure. “Our colleagues across the aisle have already completely lost American confidence in the economy before this reckless tax and spending spree. They obviously want to see how far they can fall,” he said. The bill would create tax credits for low- and middle-income electric vehicle buyers, plus grants and tax breaks to promote clean energy technology and reduce carbon emissions. Medicare will begin bargaining over the drugs it buys, prescription price increases will be limited, and Medicare beneficiaries’ drug costs will be capped at $2,000 per year.
AP reporter Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
