While President Joe Biden is at the global summit on climate change in Scotland, here at home, Democrats are still wrangling over his domestic agenda, including his massive social spending plan.
They had anticipated holding a vote this week, but a Senate holdout may have put the brakes on that, with a warning that Democrats aren’t being honest about how much the bill actually costs.
Biden issued a warning at the summit that climate change is “ravaging the world” and “destroying people’s lives.”
READ No, the World Is Not Strapped to a ‘Doomsday Device’ – Stop Wasting Money on Climate Change
“There’s no more time to hang back or sit on the fence or argue amongst ourselves,” he said. “This is the challenge of our collective lifetimes. So let this be the moment that we answer history’s call here in Glasgow.”
Also at the summit, the president brought up his domestic agenda, which Democrats are trying to push through Congress.
It allocates a record $555 billion to fight climate change, which Biden called, “The most significant investment to deal with the climate crisis than any advanced nation has made ever.”
But just three hours later, moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (WV) said not so fast, speaking out against the plans for the president’s massive climate change and social spending bill, saying it’s not really paid for.
“What I see are shell games, budget gimmicks that make the real cost of the so-called $1.75 trillion bill estimated to be almost twice that amount. This is a recipe for economic crisis,” Manchin said.
House progressives originally said unless Manchin approves the bill’s framework, they will not vote for the separate bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Now the Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) tells MSNBC that members are finally backing down, saying they will vote for the $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill despite Manchin’s stance on the other spending bill.
Manchin had made his position clear that the infrastructure bill must be passed no matter what.
“Holding that bill hostage is not going to work to get my support of what you want,” said Manchin. “It’s time to pass a bill and quit playing games.”
The White House issued a statement, saying they are still confident they can get Manchin’s support, but they did not mention his tough pushback that happened while the president was in Scotland.
However, critics say a Democratic agreement may be still far off.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN
