Manchin: Social spending bill elements must go through committee process

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Sunday said elements from the Democrats’ social spending and climate package must go through the committee process if the party wants to pass initiatives from the bill.

Asked by co-anchor Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” if Build Back Better, the name of President Biden’s roughly $2 trillion spending package, is dead, Manchin said the package as it was presented over the last several months “no longer will exist.”

He did, however, suggest that some elements from the package could pass down the line, but stressed that those initiatives must be considered by members of both parties — even though Democrats are looking to pass the bill through budget reconciliation to bypass a potential GOP filibuster.

Budget reconciliation only requires a simple majority vote for passage.

“​​Should there be parts of it? Do you want to talk about different things? I think the president said there might be certain parts and this and that. My biggest concern and my biggest opposition, it did not go through the process,” Manchin said.

He signaled to his GOP counterpart, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who was being interviewed alongside him, by emphasizing that she should have the opportunity to weigh in on the legislation.

“Whether Lisa votes for it or not, being a Republican, she should have at least the opportunity to have input. It should have gone through the committee,” Manchin said.

“These are major changes. It is going to change society as we know it … And those changes, there should be a hearing. There should be a markup. And then you’re going to have a better product, whether your friends on the other side vote for it or not. But they have to have input,” he added.

Murkowski chimed in, noting that the two centrist senators “could work on energy and climate if we went through the committee.” They both sit on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The comments come as Democrats work to salvage parts of their social spending and climate package after Manchin in December tanked hopes of it passing as a cohesive bill by announcing he would not support the measure in its current form.

Biden last month said it was clear to him that “we’re going to have to probably break it up,” referring to the roughly $2 trillion bill.

“I’m not going to negotiate against myself as to what should and shouldn’t be in it, but I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now, come back and fight for the rest later,” he added.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also conceded that Democrats may need to rebrand and scale back the spending package, telling reporters “what the president calls ‘chunks’ I would hope would be a major bill going forward. It may be more limited, but it is still significant.”

House Democrats are now pushing for action on the climate, health and education provisions in the package, emphasizing that the longer the party takes to act, the more difficult it will be to pass such provisions.