Democrat Leaders Plan to Move Forward On Budget Bill

Despite open push back from moderate members of the caucus, Democrats in the Senate plan on pushing ahead with a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), a key swing vote in the Senate, has expressed opposition to supporting a bill of that size on multiple occasions over the summer and has been lobbying his Democrat colleagues to pare down the bill, but to no avail. Leaders of his party in both chambers of Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have now both signaled that they see no reason to barter down the price tag of the package. With deadlines for meaningful progress on an infrastructure bill and budget reconciliation bill all occurring by the end of the month, September looks to finish in a flurry of legislative activity.