In a signed document in July, Sen. Chuck Schumer promised fellow Dem Sen. Joe Manchin the reconciliation package would cost only $1.5 trillion, not the $3.5 trillion House Democrats are now demanding.
The document, signed by both men, says the “topline” number for the reconciliation package would be $1.5 trillion with debate on the package beginning no later than October 1. “Senator Manchin does not guarantee that he will vote for the final reconciliation legislation if it exceeds the conditions outlined in this agreement,” the paper reads.
Dems are panicked now that the package will not include the additional $2 trillion in spending to fund the most radical items of President Biden’s reconciliation package. So naturally Schumer is backpeddling on the agreement.
“Leader Schumer never agreed to any of the conditions Sen. Manchin laid out; he merely acknowledged where Sen. Manchin was on the subject at the time,” a spokesperson for Schumer claimed. “Sen. Manchin did not rule out voting for a reconciliation bill that exceeded the ideas he outlined, and Leader Schumer made clear that he would work to convince Sen. Manchin to support a final reconciliation bill — as he has doing been for weeks,” the spokesperson claimed.
But Manchin issued a statement Wednesday night reiterating, “I cannot — and will not — support trillions in spending or an all-or-nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces.”