Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to hold a vote on President Joe Biden’s massive Build Back Better deal this month as key holdout Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., continues to be courted by the White House and Democratic leaders for his vote, reports Axios.
Manchin, who sank Biden’s signature social and climate spending legislation just before Christmas, will attend Monday night’s Senate leadership meeting and Tuesday’s weekly caucus lunch likely to discuss BBB.
The lunch will be the first time all Senate Democrats are together since Manchin publicly opposed the bill. According to Axios, Schumer will reportedly make a choice on whether to hold a vote on the bill following the session.
Manchin last month said he wanted a new bill that goes through Senate committees and focuses on rolling back the 2017 Trump tax cuts.
“I knew what they could and could not do,” Manchin said on West Virginia MetroNews on Dec. 20. “They just never realized it, because they figure surely to God we can move one person. Surely, we can badger and beat one person up.”
He added: “Well, guess what? I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from, [where] they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive.”
One senior Senate Democratic aide told Axios that people “have had time to cool off; Manchin’s had time to cool off.
“We’ll have to see now what becomes possible.”
Manchin said the bill needs to go through committee to have any success.
“I won’t continue to go down everything you want to do, major policy changes and reconciliation. It needs to go through a process,” he told MetroNews.
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