Senator Joe Manchin may delay President Joe Biden's 'Build Back Better' legislation until next year over inflation worries, despite the president saying the West Virginia Democrat would vote for it just a week earlier.
A new report cites people familiar with the matter, saying that Manchin may choose to delay the spending bill, which is unlikely to pass the Senate without his vote.
The $1.75trillion proposal aims to expand the social safety net in the United States and boost climate change policy.
The House of Representatives passed a separate $1trillion package of highway, broadband and other infrastructure improvements last week. It was passed by the Senate in August.
Biden has spent the last few months promoting the merits of both pieces of legislation.
Senator Joe Manchin seen November 1 after announcing he wouldn't support the $1.75trillion plan without knowing more about its economic impact
Biden (pictured left), promoting the $1trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill Wednesday
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said the Democrats plan to pass the $1.75trillion bill next week
Biden expressed confidence last week he would get Manchin's vote for it despite the senator claiming it is filled with 'shell games' and 'budget gimmicks.'
'He will vote for this,' Biden said as he wrapped up his trip to the COP26 climate summit. 'I believe that Joe will be there.'
Manchin has refused to endorse the framework that the White House announced last week and said Tuesday there is 'no rush' on getting the legislation completed.
'It's going to be a while,' he said of talks.
But Biden predicted the package of education, healthcare and climate proposals would pass.
'I understand that Joe is looking for the precise detail to make sure nothing got slipped in in terms of the way in which the legislation got written that is different than he acknowledged he would agree to,' the president said. 'But I think we'll get this done.'
President Joe Biden expressed confidence he would get Joe Manchin's vote for his $1.75 trillion package of social programs
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that the House intends to pass the 'Build Back Better' legislation the week of November 15.
Manchin's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Axios report, which coincides with government data that showed prices rose 6.2 percent in October compared with a year ago, the largest annual increase in about 30 years.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell encouraged Democrats Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to sink Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion social safety net program.
McConnell cited Democrats' disastrous results in Virginia last week, when the party lost the gubernatorial election, and the close re-election of the Democratic governor in New Jersey, where Dems hold a 1 million voter registration advantage.
'If the Democrats in the Senate, all 50 of them, fall in line, they can pass it. If any one of them isn't there in a 50-50 Senate, it will be defeated,' McConnell told Kentucky radio station WKYX.
'The two Senate Democrats who are resisting - Joe Manchin from West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona - we'll see how strong they are. They could kill the whole thing, either one of them,' he added.
Manchin and Sinema have not publicly committed to voting for Biden's Build Back Better bill, which the House is expected to take up next week when lawmakers return to Washington.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell encouraged Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to sink Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion social safety net program
Senators Joe Manchin (left) and Kyrsten Sinema (right) have not publicly committed to voting for Biden's Build Back Better bill, which the House is expected to take up next week when lawmakers return to Washington
In the evenly divided 50-50 Senate, Biden needs every Democratic vote to move his agenda through.
Biden has already cut his proposal by nearly in half - down from its original $3 billion - because of concerns Manchin and Sinema had about its cost.
Republicans also see the two senators as their best chance to make changes to the legislation when its debated in the Senate - through a chaotic process known as a vote-a-rama, where GOP senators could get proposals into the legislation if they can peel off one Democrat.
McConnell also blamed the administration for the high inflation the county is experiencing in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. And he claimed that was one of the factors voters were reacting to.
'This administration, it's just a mess,' he said. 'It's a mess and that's what we saw the American people reacting to and both in New Jersey just a week ago.'
On Wednesday, the Labor Department announced inflation picked up to 0.9 per cent last month from September, faster than the prior month’s increase of 0.4 per cent and above expectations.
Additionally, overall prices of goods and services have climbed by 6.2 per cent over the past 12 months, the fastest pace since 1990 - all of which is troubling news for the Biden administration.
And the energy index rose 4.8 per cent in October compared to the month before, as the gasoline index increased 6.1 per cent.
The combo of rising gas prices and food prices - along with the lower buying power of wages - is tough news for the administration as the country heads into the holidays.
President Joe Biden visited the Port of Baltimore to sell his Congressional agenda
The Consumer Price Index shows a rise in prices in every category from used cars, laundry equipment, furniture to food
Biden argued his infrastructure bill will bring down supply costs and he also pushed for Congress to pass his Build Back Better legislation, which contains trillions in funding for social safety net programs.
'I am travelling to Baltimore today to highlight how my Infrastructure Bill will bring down these costs, reduce these bottlenecks, and make goods more available and less costly,' he said in a statement after the inflation numbers came out.
'And I want to reemphasize my commitment to the independence of the federal reserve to monitor inflation, and take steps necessary to combat it,' he said.
'it is important that Congress pass my Build Back Better plan, which is fully paid for and does not add to the debt, and will get more Americans working,' he added.
Administration officials have argued that inflation will fade out in the next several months as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, which caused manufactuering delays and transportation problems.
The infrastructure bill specificially contains a $17 billion investment to upgrade the country's ports.
The Port of Baltimore, the 14th busiest port in the U.S. in 2019 in terms of the national total, is the nation’s largest port for specialized cargo and passenger facilities. The Port of Baltimore is one of the few East Coast ports with a 50-foot deep channel, which allows it to accomodate some of the world's largest container ships.
It hasn't seen the same level of delays in getting cargo off ships that other ports have seen.
But improving the flow of cargo in and out of the country has become a top priority for the administration.
The administration has already worked with the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to have them operating 24/7 in an effort to relieve supply bottlenecks.
As inflation rises, however, along with prices going up and goods being difficult to obtain, the president's poll numbers have tanked, as voters express disapproval with his handling of the economy.
The president also spoke to several top CEOs - including Wal-Mart, FedEx and Target - on Tuesday about supply chain issues.
Wednesday's trip will kick off a blitz of visits by the president and his top administration officials to tout the successful passage of the legislation and the benefits it will bring to communities.
The sales job comes after Democrats suffered a devastating lost in Virginia last week, when their candidate lost the state's gubenatorial race - which raised concerns about how the party will do in next year's midterm election.
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