Live updates: Biden, lawmakers work to trim budget bill as GOP, Democrats still at odds over debt ceiling
The US has never defaulted before. In the debt ceiling crisis, what happens if it does?
If Congress doesn’t raise the limit, the government could default on its debts, potentially setting off a cascade of economic turmoil.
Sen. Joe Manchin could go beyond the $1.5 trillion limit the West Virginia Democrat laid out as his ceiling for the price tag of the Build Back Better Act.
“It sure seems like he’s moving. I hope that’s the case,” Biden said Tuesday.
Manchin is one of two Democratic senators (along with Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona) who have balked at the $3.5 trillion bill, saying its scope and size were too large. In response, Biden has been suggesting a price tag closer to $2 trillion, which would still surpass Manchin’s stated limit.
Biden asked House Progressives to lower their spending bill by more than $1 trillion during a virtual call Monday afternoon on his Build Back Better Act.
Progressives have not offered a final counteroffer, but want the bill to include all of the programs and priorities, and have the top-line encompass those.
Joe Manchin suddenly seems to influence everything Washington does. The West Virginia senator says he wants to make Congress ‘work again’
13 days away from the Oct. 18 deadline, when the department expects it will run out of “extraordinary measures” to keep the country from defaulting.
The delay is caused by partisan disagreements on Capitol Hill, where Democrats are insisting Republicans vote with them to raise the limit. But Republicans say they won’t help and want Democrats to use a process called reconciliation, which would allow Democrats to raise the debt ceiling without Republican support.
– Savannah Behrmann and Mabinty Quarshie
Biden, Democrats moving closer on Build Back Better price tag
Congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden are working towards a deal on their spending bill in an effort to bring every congressional Democrat on board, with the White House offering between $1.9 trillion and $2.2 trillion in an effort to win over moderates balking at its size and scope, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.
Biden asked House Progressives to lower their spending bill by more than $1 trillion during a virtual call Monday afternoon on his 10-year, $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, while progressives countered with $2.5 trillion, according to one of the sources.
Biden has been trying to unite a divided caucus behind a far-reaching proposal that would address social welfare priorities that are a priority for progressives, such as climate initiatives, and subsidized caregiving, childcare, pre-kindergarten and community college. But centrists, notably Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have resisted such a massive spending program.
Last week, Manchin revealed that he would be willing to go as far as $1.5 trillion but was adamant about not going along with most of what progressives want.
“I cannot – and will not – support trillions in spending or an all or nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces,” he said.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Manchin said he had no new comments in reaction to the president’s new funding target.
– Ledyard King and Savannah Behrmann