House Democrats brush off Manchin

Democratic negotiators in the House say they’re on the brink of sealing a deal on President Biden’s economic agenda despite Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) tossing a verbal hand grenade into the talks on Monday.

Democrats brushed aside concerns voiced by Manchin at a must-watch press conference that the $1.75 trillion package might exacerbate inflation, insisting the measure would improve the economy.

They also vowed to plow ahead with their strategy for moving both the broader spending bill and a separate bipartisan infrastructure measure through the House, effectively ignoring Manchin’s demand for a swift vote on the latter.

“We intend to pass both bills through the House in the next couple of days,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN Monday not long after Manchin’s press conference.

Negotiators worked through the weekend and into Monday to iron out the last stubborn wrinkles in the $1.75 trillion plan — talks that seemed to focus most intently on a contentious provision to rein in prescription drug prices.

Jayapal said there are outstanding divisions remaining on the issues of prescription drug pricing, child care benefits and immigration. But she predicted those differences will be resolved in short order, emphasizing that she’ll trust Biden’s assurances regarding the Senate vote, even if Manchin declines to announce his backing publicly before the House votes.

“I believe that the president is speaking out of the experience that he has had of negotiating … with these senators,” she said. “So I trust the president; he’s going to deliver 51 votes. And I think we just need to bring all the temperature down a little bit.”

Other liberals quickly endorsed the calls for immediate votes on both bills.

“Pramila Jayapal is right. Let’s vote these two bills out of the House this week,” Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) tweeted. 

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), also predicted that the negotiations are coming to a close.

“The discussions have been going on all weekend. It is going to take time for that language to be finished. And then many members have expressed wanting 72 hours to look at the language,” she said in an interview with MSNBC.

“I am hopeful — I think most are hopeful — that we will be able to do something by the end of the week.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who sets the floor schedule, said Monday evening that votes are possible this week.

“We’re working on it; we hope to get something more definite today. And if we do, we’ll move forward,” Hoyer said.

Pelosi offered a similar message about the prospect of staging the votes before Congress leaves Washington at week’s end for a long Veterans Day recess. “That is our hope,” she said.

The battle comes at a fraught time for Biden, who has seen his polling numbers tumble in recent months, and national Democrats, who have been worried about their eroding political fortunes.

Some Democratic lawmakers had pressed for a House vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill already approved by the Senate, believing doing so could help Biden and give a boost to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe in Virginia.

Liberals have refused to budge on an early vote on infrastructure, preferring to hold that measure back as leverage to get work done on the larger social spending and climate measure.

They have also pushed back at the idea that passing the infrastructure bill would make a huge difference in the Virginia race.

“This is not going to make a difference for McAuliffe,” said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.). “[The] tightness in his race, it’s on him, not on congressional Democrats.”