Manchin criticizes Democrats’ billionaire tax plan for ‘targeting’ the wealthy – live

• Democrats’ proposal to establish a national paid family and medical leave program has likely been cut from the reconciliation package, according to multiple reports. If the proposal is eliminated, it will almost certainly outrage advocates who have noted that the US woefully trails its peer nations when it comes to providing paid leave to its citizens.
• Centrist Senator Joe Manchin voiced criticism of Democrats’ proposed tax on billionaires to help pay for the reconciliation package. “I don’t like it. I don’t like the connotation that we’re targeting different people,” Manchin said of the proposal, which would impact only 700 US taxpayers.
• Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are “within arm’s length” of a deal on the reconciliation package. “We are hopeful that we can come to a framework agreement by the end of today,” the Democratic leader said this morning. But as Manchin’s comments demonstrate, there are several important outstanding issues about what to include in the bill and how to pay for it.
• House speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a rules committee hearing tomorrow to discuss the Build Back Better agenda. The hearing seems to be Pelosi’s attempt to advance the negotiations, as Democrats look to finalize the deal before Joe Biden leaves for Europe tomorrow.

– Joan E Greve

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Democrats’ proposal to establish a national paid family and medical leave program has been cut from the reconciliation package, according to multiple reports. If the proposal is eliminated, it will almost certainly outrage advocates who have noted that the US woefully trails its peer nations when it comes to providing paid leave to its citizens.
• Centrist Senator Joe Manchin voiced criticism of Democrats’ proposed tax on billionaires to help pay for the reconciliation package. “I don’t like it. I don’t like the connotation that we’re targeting different people,” Manchin said of the proposal, which would impact only 700 US taxpayers.
• Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are “within arm’s length” of a deal on the reconciliation package. “We are hopeful that we can come to a framework agreement by the end of today,” the Democratic leader said this morning. But as Manchin’s comments demonstrate, there are several important outstanding issues about what to include in the bill and how to pay for it.
• House speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a rules committee hearing tomorrow to discuss the Build Back Better agenda. The hearing seems to be Pelosi’s attempt to advance the negotiations, as Democrats look to finalize the deal before Joe Biden leaves for Europe tomorrow.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Joe Biden‘s proposal to establish a national paid family and medical leave program has reportedly been cut from Democrats‘ reconciliation package.

The Washington Post reports:

Democrats appeared on the verge of clinching more than $500 billion in new money to combat climate change, even as they continued to hammer out some of the specifics. Some felt they were also close to a temporary program to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans. Even before Wednesday, the party had neared consensus over a slew of other programs to aid families, including expanded tax credits for parents and new, free and universal prekindergarten for their children.

But the prospects of a deal also forced Democrats to begin to accept difficult trade-offs, as many initiatives were scaled back or jettisoned as a result of demands from [centrist holdouts Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema]. That included a promise to provide paid family and medical leave to millions of Americans, which appeared to fall out of the bill entirely, according to two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to describe the talks. They noted negotiations remain ongoing.

As I reported back in May, the US trails its peer nations in providing paid leave to its citizens. The US is the only high-wealth country without guaranteed paid maternity leave, and it is one of just two such nations without a paid sick leave guarantee.

Here is my report from May about paid leave advocates demanding change at the national level:

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a rules committee hearing tomorrow on Joe Biden‘s Build Back Better agenda, as Democrats continue their negotiations over the reconciliation package.

The hearing appears to be Pelosi’s attempt to advance the reconciliation bill negotiations, and the speaker said in a “Dear Colleague” letter that Democrats are “close to agreement on the priorities and the topline of the legislation”.

“At the same time, we are facing a crucial deadline for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework to pass,” Pelosi said in the letter. “To do so, we must have trust and confidence in an agreement for the Build Back Better Act.”

House progressives had previously indicated they would not support the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the reconciliation package gets a vote as well.

Progressive congresswoman Cori Bush reiterated yesterday that an agreement on the framework of the reconciliation package was insufficient to gain her support on the infrastructure bill.