Biden Holds Office Hours As Manchin Takes Axe To Reconciliation Bill

October 20, 2021
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) leaves a Democratic luncheon at the U.S. Capitol October 7, 2021 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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October 20, 2021

President Joe Biden is calling in factions of primarily House members to the White House today. The progressives are at 2:00 p.m., followed by the moderates a couple hours later. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) will reportedly have a one-on-one earlier on Tuesday.

Biden will likely have to hold some hands as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) takes a hatchet to major programs in his reconciliation package. Manchin has all but killed the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), once the crux of Democrats’ climate ambitions. That, in turn, has rekindled talks of a carbon tax to take its place, but Manchin appeared to indicate Tuesday that he opposed that, too. He’s reportedly demanding a cap of $60,000 in family income to receive the Child Tax Credit alongside work requirements, dramatically reducing the number of families who will be eligible.

For a while, the big question was whether Democrats would prefer fewer big programs, or more programs on shorter timelines. From today’s vantage point, it doesn’t seem that Manchin is giving them much say in the matter.

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President Joe Biden is calling in factions of primarily House members to the White House today. The progressives are at 2:00 p.m., followed by the moderates a couple hours later. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) will reportedly have a one-on-one earlier on Tuesday.

Biden will likely have to hold some hands as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) takes a hatchet to major programs in his reconciliation package. Manchin has all but killed the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), once the crux of Democrats’ climate ambitions. That, in turn, has rekindled talks of a carbon tax to take its place, but Manchin appeared to indicate Tuesday that he opposed that, too. He’s reportedly demanding a cap of $60,000 in family income to receive the Child Tax Credit alongside work requirements, dramatically reducing the number of families who will be eligible.

For a while, the big question was whether Democrats would prefer fewer big programs, or more programs on shorter timelines. From today’s vantage point, it doesn’t seem that Manchin is giving them much say in the matter.

Notable Replies

  1. Because however relatively reasonable Manchin will be, there’s still nothing that can get her on board.

    Maybe a massive Goodwill storefront expansion for clothes shopping?

  2. President Joe Biden is calling in factions of primarily House members to the White House today. The progressives are at 2:00 p.m., followed by the moderates a couple hours later. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) will reportedly have a one-on-one earlier on Tuesday.

    Yup, that’s exactly what “cognitive decline”, “doesn’t even know what day it is”, “completely controlled by the left wingers” looks like.

  3. According to O’Donnell last night, Progressives and Manchin met for hours and it wasn’t to say “no”.

    Maybe he was hallucinating and the BeltWay Bois are spot-on…

    I do not believe that the BeltWay Boys want this to pass. Given our Climate situation, I am led to believe that they think Gated Neighborhood Security will take care of that.

    When the “journalists” are as fat and happy as the perps (GOP pols), access becomes assets.

  4. Avatar for leeks leeks says:

    The interesting effect of putting a means test on programs like the Child Tax Credit is that it changes the very nature of the program from a pro-child / pro-family program to a welfare program.

    A tax credit that all who meet the non-income based criteria will be popular and considered as much a benefit for all as is the individual tax exemption for dependents. The debate then becomes how high should that exemption be.

    By attaching a means test to the program those who do not meet the income requirement for the program will resent that they can not get the credit and will support future efforts to reduce the qualifying income level or to eliminate the program altogether.

    In short means testing drives wedges between citizens and increases the feeling among the moderate income people of West Virginia and the rest of the nation that they are being cheated once again. MEANS TESTING OF TAX CREDITS LEADS TO A MORE DEVIDED, MORE CONTENTIOUS, AND LESS ;UNIFIED NATION. IT IS VERY BAD PUBLIC POLICY.

  5. Avatar for leeks leeks says:

    That brian512 wins the prize for the stupidest comment of the week.

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