Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will be meeting with both President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday, Fox News has confirmed, as Democrats continue to have trouble agreeing to terms on a massive social spending bill to go alongside a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Progressives have threatened to tank that bill, however, if the party does not first come to terms on a much larger social spending bill that Democrats would pass through budget reconciliation – a process that only requires a simple majority but Democrats would need everyone in the party, including the moderate Manchin, to achieve that.
The social spending bill was originally expected to cost $3.5 trillion, but Manchin is pushing for a far less expensive package.
Sunday's meeting also comes following a report that Manchin was considering leaving the Democratic party altogether if an agreement could not be made to lower the reconciliation bill's price to $1.75 trillion."The only thing that was ever said that we've ever talked about if I'm an embarrassment to my, my Democratic colleagues, my caucus, the president being the Democratic leader of the Democrat Party, Chuck Schumer and all them," Manchin said in response to a question from Fox News.
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