Legal Alert: Making a Manchin out of a molehill – Senate infrastructure and budget debates heat up
Fresh from their July 4 recess, the Senate has returned to Washington to continue infrastructure and budget bill negotiations. As previously discussed, there are two distinct legislative paths making their way through Congress: (1) a bipartisan infrastructure package; and (2) a Democratic budget reconciliation bill focusing on family aid, healthcare, and a global minimum tax. Important to the passage of both bills appears to be Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). On Tuesday, July 13, Sen. Manchin told reporters that he would not support a bipartisan infrastructure bill or a Democratic-only budget bill that was not fully supported by pay-fors. Pay-fors, the revenue raisers that support the spending provisions in legislation, are “scored” by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to determine how much a bill will officially cost.
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