Durbin Says $3.5 Trillion is Starting Point for Economic Plan

(Bloomberg) -- The second-ranking Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, said Monday he has “no idea” if his party can push through a tax and spending plan anywhere near the $3.5 trillion sought by President Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders. 

Durbin’s comments, made as senators return to Washington from an August break and begin intense negotiations on the tax and spending plan, comes as some centrist Democrats such as Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia are balking at the size of the Biden plan.

“That’s the right starting point for negotiation,” Durbin said of the $3.5 trillion budget resolution Democrats adopted. “It’s not necessarily the end point.”

Durbin acknowledged Senate Democrats may not meet a self-imposed Wednesday deadline for drafting their legislation reflecting core elements of Biden’s domestic agenda. House committees are now writing the details of their version, which would raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, while also boosting spending for a slew of domestic programs including climate change, health care and child and elder care.

“We’ll see, I can’t say,” he said when asked whether Democrats could reach agreement on the massive package by then. “It really is going to take some personal negotiation, person to person, to see what’s acceptable.”

Uncertainty over the tax and spending package’s prospect have increased significantly since lawmakers left town for the August recess. 

In the evenly divided Senate, Manchin jolted his party when he called for a “strategic pause” in action on the proposed $3.5 trillion package in a Sept. 2 Wall Street Journal op-ed, and said he wants a “significantly” smaller plan. Another Democrat, Krysten Sinema of Arizona, also has said she won’t back an economic plan with such a big price tag.

In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi in late August couldn’t initially muster the votes to clear a procedural vote to adopt the budget plan enabling the economic package to advance. She had to strike a deal with 10 Democratic House moderates, which set in writing a Sept. 27 deadline for a vote on the separate $550 billion infrastructure bill.

Republican leaders are highlighting their united opposition to the massive economic plan, which gives Democrats no wiggle room in the struggle for enough support. Every Senate Democrat must agree to the plan in the 50-50 Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris on hand to cast the tie-breaking vote. The plan can’t pass in the House if more than three Democrats vote against it.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday that Democrats seek “far-left policies” and are combining them with “staggering tax hikes that would kill jobs, hurt families, and crush our competitiveness with the Chinese.”

“It’s the very last thing American workers need,” he said. “It’s the last thing American families can afford. And Republicans are going to fight these terrible, painful policies tooth and nail.”

Procedural Hurdles

Durbin said the process could be slowed because Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is reviewing an immigration draft proposal to see if it can qualify for fast-track procedures Democrats want to use to avert a GOP filibuster on the economic package. 

MacDonough met with aides from both parties on Friday to discuss whether a plan to offer legal permanent residency to as many as 8 million undocumented immigrants meets tests that include having a significant budgetary impact, not an “incidental” one. 

Durbin said MacDonough has asked Democrats for more information later this week and he doesn’t know when she will be ready to make her determination. He said Democratic aides who met with her “felt good about” the prospects. 

“I hope they are right,” the Illinois Democrat added.

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