Saying that he “cannot accept our economy or basically our society moving towards an entitlement mentality,” Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin designated the top line number he’d support for any “Build Back Better” initiative pushed by the White House: $1.5 trillion.
HuffPost reports that Manchin told reporters today that he would support a bill that would trim some of the aspects of the proposals put forth by President Joe Biden and liberal Democrats, but he did not specify which programs he favors or dislikes. The current proposal, with a $3.5 trillion price tag that would be greatly offset by taxing corporations and the top 1% wealth holders, includes programs such as free daycare for working families and no-cost community college.
“I cannot accept our economy or basically our society moving towards an entitlement mentality,” Manchin said on Thursday. “Because I’m more of a rewarding ― because I can help those who really need help if those who can help themselves do so.”
Democrats have a number of options in putting together a counterproposal to get Manchin’s vote on the spending bill, including cutting programs. However, the more popular option is to cut the time the programs run from ten years to four years, having them expire after the 2024 fiscal year in the initial bill with the intent of renewing them later, when they have been established.
Manchin pointed to a typed agreement he and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer signed in July, delineating Manchin’s guaranteed support for a bill that did not go over $1.5 trillion.
“As the document notes, 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 Schumer spokesman said in a statement. “As the document reads, 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.”