U.S. President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda suffered a significant setback on Monday when moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced he would not yet support a $1.75 trillion framework unveiled late last week.
“I won’t support a multi-trillion bill without greater clarity,” Manchin told reporters.
He portrayed the current bill as being filled with “shell games” and “budget gimmicks” that would end up costing far more than its $1.75 trillion price tag.
Instead, Manchin demanded immediate action in the U.S. House of Representatives on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill already approved by the Senate.
Progressives in Biden’s Democratic Party have demanded that no vote occur on that measure until the larger bill to expand social programs and attack climate change was first nailed down and assured of Senate passage.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
