President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin are pictured.
Democrats are trying to resurrect their social legislation after Manchin dealt it a blow.
He suggested child-tax-credit changes.
The architect of the child tax credit said he didn't know if he would get Manchin's vote.
President Joe Biden staked the majority of his agenda on his $2 trillion bill to expand the nation's safety net and fight the climate emergency. It was always going to be a challenge to get the package through with only Democratic votes in the House and Senate.
On Sunday, reality came crashing down on the White House when Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia went on Fox News to put a dagger into the social and climate measure.
I've tried everything possible. He said that he couldn't get there and that it was a no on the legislation.
Manchin's opposition put him on the same side as the Republican Party, which was against it. Democrats are trying to get the West Virginia Democrat to vote for the legislation.
"I think there's a lot of good work that's been put in this bill, but there are things that can be changed and things that can be improved," said Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.
He said that the reconciliation bill will be voted on with 50 votes plus one, and that everyone will have a say about it. Democrats can't approve the bill in the Senate without Manchin's vote.
The child tax credit provides up to $300 a month for most families. It is the cornerstone of Democrats' efforts to slash child poverty, and they want to expand it another year. The final checks have been sent.
Manchin said in a Monday radio interview that only families with taxable incomes should be eligible for the program. He wants to make it easier for grandparents to use the initiative, saying Democrats won't even talk about smoothing the process for those taking care of their grandchildren.
If grandparents claim their grandchild as a dependents for at least six months, they can receive a monthly check. A key Democrat said that he was in the early stages of designing a fix so that they could access the credit without having to claim dependents.
The chair of the Senate Finance Committee thinks we can include that. "We're streamlining the way forward so that grandparents can play a bigger role."
Those changes were included in the early version of the House bill. The time needed to institute them would have exceeded the one-year length of the monthly check program. They're back in action.
Andy Boardman, a research assistant at the Urban Institute, told Insider that it's not crazy to put the eligibility adjustments back in the mix.
We are going to have to rewrite the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Democrats have an enormous challenge. Getting a bill to Biden's desk will require painful sacrifice from many in the party to satisfy Manchin's $1.75 trillion ceiling on fresh government spending with all planned programs running 10 years.
One Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly said, "We're obviously going to have to rewrite the bill." This is not just around the edges. This is restructuring.
The legislation would have set up universal pre-K, established federal subsidies for childcare, and helped combat the climate emergency. Democrats want to impose new taxes on rich Americans and corporations to finance it.
Difficult cuts are being floated by some Democrats. $175 billion in affordable housing may be on the chopping block, according to the chair of the House Budget Committee.
Many Democrats are uneasy about the thought of negotiations slowing to a crawl, especially as the focus of their campaigns shifts to their home states and districts.
Schumer said he was moving ahead with the plan to put the House bill to a vote in the Senate if Democrats could get 50 votes first. It's meant to be a pressure tactic to get Senate Democrats to quickly agree on the size and scope of the plan.
Schumer told the senators on the virtual caucus call that they were all frustrated with the outcome. We are not giving up on the project. We won't stop working until we pass a bill.
At one point, Manchin addressed his fellow Senate Democrats and raised his concerns about the legislation. He said he didn't want any legislation to contribute to inflation or add to the national debt and that he had been consistent on his views.
Democrats still don't know what's going on with Manchin.
"Sen. Manchin has the right to change his mind from time to time," Bennet said. Bennet was going to keep trying to get Manchin to back a renewal of the child-tax-credit benefit.
charts were brought to the Senate floor last week to show the influence of extending the child tax credit. It appeared to land with a bang, as Manchin criticized it afterwards.
"I don't know if the West Virginia Democrat would be willing to support renewing the child-tax-credit expansion," said Bennet.
Business Insider has an original article.
