Schumer urges Senate to pass his deal with Manchin before August recess

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told fellow Democrats during a closed-door meeting Thursday that he is aiming to pass a major spending bill ahead of the chamber’s August recess, according to a Democrat inside the meeting.

Schumer’s comments came a day after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a key moderate, announced his support of the deal. The package includes major investments in drug pricing, as well as provisions to address climate change and taxes on the wealthy — priorities that Democrats “have been fighting to do for decades,” Schumer said.

July 28, 202203:06

The deal signals a significant step toward reviving elements of President Joe Biden’s agenda after Manchin said in December that he would not vote for the president’s Build Back Better Act, his initial spending proposal.

“It will require us to stick together and work long days and nights for the next 10 days,” Schumer said, according to a Democrat inside the meeting. “We will need to be disciplined in our messaging and focus. It will be hard.”

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Schumer and Manchin said that the bill would “make a historic down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030,” while permitting Medicare to negotiate for prescription drugs and lower health care costs.

The bill does not include provisions for paid leave, which has drawn criticism from some advocates who say it is increasingly important after the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion. Manchin previously expressed his opposition to Democrats’ paid leave proposal.