House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said she will not hold a vote on the infrastructure legislation until the Senate passes the Democrats’ spending plan. After centrists in her caucus threatened to hold up the budget bill, Pelosi made a nonbinding commitment to consider the bipartisan bill by Sept. 27.
In a Thursday Twitter post after Manchin announced his stance, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the fates of the two economic plans are tied.
“No infrastructure bill without the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill,” the Senate Budget Committee chairman said.
Pelosi and the White House hope to fully offset the spending through tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, among other measures. Democrats could also consider taxes on companies with runaway CEO pay and businesses that repurchase a substantial amount of stock, according to a discussion list circulated among Democratic lawmakers and obtained by CNBC.
Republicans have cited proposed tax hikes, and the overall $3.5 trillion price tag, in opposing the package.
Biden on Friday framed tax increases on the wealthy and corporations as a way to create a fairer economy. He repeated his pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.
“To those big corporations that don’t want things to change, my message is this: It’s time for working families, the folks who built this country, to have their taxes cut,” Biden said.
“And those corporate interests doing everything they can to find allies in Congress to keep that from happening, let me be, as the old expression goes, perfectly clear: I’m going to take them on.”
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/03/august-jobs-report-biden-urges-congress-to-pass-economic-bills.html