Consider it dead, along with voting/medical rights, despite Pelosi's theatrical drama
Using a legislative maneuver called reconciliation, the budget resolution is protected from being filibustered in the Senate, allowing a simple majority to approve the legislation in each chamber.
With the evenly divided Senate, Manchin is a needed vote for Democrats. They can pass the budget bill with 50 votes, meaning all Democratic-voting senators need to vote "aye" because no Republicans are expected to support the massive legislation.
But, Manchin wrote Thursday, "I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs."
Wall Street bailouts (roughly 3.5 trillion every two and a half years)? No problem
Probably just as good, we're not supposed to have that much pork in our diets anyway.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 04 2021, @11:51AM
At this point, the only really important question left is: does your file cabinet have an air-tight lid to keep the stench from getting out?
I peered [soylentnews.org] at past fusty journals to see what kind of legislation Manchin has been blocking. My take on this is that the quality of the stuff that "President" Manchin is allegedly torpedoing is abominable - excessive spending, dumbass labor and election policy, "progressive legislation", etc. If the Democrats really need this alleged theater to keep from making really bad decisions and passing really bad law, then carry on. I'm not going to obsess over the alleged fakeness of the situation when there's worse than hypocrisy in those blocked bills.