President Joe Biden‘s new proposed $2 trillion infrastructure bill appears to be in trouble in its current form after a key Democratic senator says he opposes it as it “exists today.”
During an interview with West Virginia’s Metro News, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) told host Hoppy Kercheval he would not support Biden’s proposed bill “as the bill exists today.” He added, “It needs to be changed.”
Manchin says more revenue needs to be collected from high income earners, but he says the corporate tax rate should be at 25%.
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 5, 2021
He says he would not support raising the corp tax to 28%.
“It’s more than just me, Hoppy," Manchin said. "There’s six or seven other Democrats who feel very strongly about this. We have to be competitive, and we’re not going to throw caution to the wind.”
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 5, 2021
Manchin went on, “It’s more than just me, Hoppy. There’s six or seven other Democrats who feel very strongly about this. We have to be competitive, and we’re not going to throw caution to the wind.”
Biden announced his new infrastructure bill last week, which he called a “once-in-a-generation investment in America, unlike anything we’ve seen or done.” The bill aims to rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges and seeks to make investments to combat climate change.
To pay for his bill, Biden plans to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.
While Manchin told Kercheval he believes high earners should pay more in taxes, he said he believes the corporate tax rate should be raised to 25% and would not support raising it to 28%.
Most legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and pass the chamber. The Senate is currently split 50-50, and it could be hard for Democrats to win over 10 Republicans to pass the bill.
However, Senate Democrats believe they can use budget reconciliation, which cannot be filibustered, to pass the bill.
Typically, reconciliation can only be used once per year and for bills that would impact the federal budget. Democrats already used reconciliation to pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package in March.
However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is exploring whether Democrats can use reconciliation again, which would allow Democrats to pass the bill with just a simple majority, or 51 votes, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
Reconciliation would require all 50 Democrats to vote for the bill. However, if Manchin opposes it and no Republicans vote for it, they would fall short of the required votes to pass the chamber.