On The Money — Manchin slams brakes on Biden spending push

Some people are slowing down when Biden’s spending spurts

Have a nice Monday and welcome to On The Money, Your nightly guide to everything related to your bills, bank account, and bottom line. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Today’s Big Deal: Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinOn The Money – Manchin Slows Biden Spending Spurt Progressives Hit Manchin After Telling His Colleagues To “Pause” On Biden’s .5T Plan Overnight Energy & Environment – Presented By The American Petroleum Institute – A Warning Shot On Biden’s .5T -Plan MORE (DW.Va.) has some concerns about the Democrats’ spending agenda and has little time for the party to adjust its course. We’ll also look at climate-related concerns about Jerome Powell and a progressive push in defense of Biden’s tax plan.

But first, find out why the Federal Trade Commission is investigating McDonald’s chronically broken Ice machines.

For The Hill, I’m Sylvan Lane. Write to me at slane@thehill.com or @SylvanLane. You can reach my colleagues in the finance team Naomi Jagoda at njagoda@thehill.com or @NJagoda and Aris Folley afolley@thehill.com or @ArisFolley.

Let us begin.

Manchin warns Democrats: press “pause” on Biden’s 3.5-ton plan

Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) said the Democrats should press “pause” President BidenJoe Biden Former ISIS Member Commits to Kidnappings, American Deaths Defense & National Security – The Psychological Scars of Afghanistan Biden visits wounded soldiers at Walter Reed MORE‘s $ 3.5 trillion spending package, which is a major warning shot on his party’s top legislative priority.

Manchin while Remarks this week at an event hosted by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce on concerns about “expiring inflation,” the delta variant of the coronavirus, and a botched withdrawal in Afghanistan to slow what is at the heart of Biden’s economic agenda.

“When the country is facing what lies ahead … I would ask my colleagues and the entire Senate to pause on $ 3.5 [trillion]“Said Manchin at the event on Wednesday. “Let’s sit back. Lets see what happens. We have so much on our plate. We really have a lot. I think that would be the smart and smart thing. ”

Manchin redoubled remarks made on Wednesday in a Wall Street Journal Thursday, warning that he cannot support a $ 3.5 trillion plan.

• Manchin previously warned that he had “serious concerns” about a bipartisan group of senators in a statement released hours after the roughly $ 1 trillion bill passed last month, which he and a bipartisan group of senators were negotiating $ 3.5 trillion package.

• But his new remarks come as the Democrats negotiate and draft the $ 3.5 trillion bill that will incorporate some of the party’s top priorities, including expanding Medicare, fighting climate change, and immigration reform. And if he persists in his urge to take a slow approach, it could be a major stumbling block to the democratic leadership’s schedule to advance the democratically-made law.

The Hill’s Jordan Carney has everything here.

The setback: Of course, Manchin’s message did not go down well with progressive lawmakers – who insisted on voting for the Democratic Reconciliation Act before passing the Senate-approved bipartisan infrastructure bill, particularly because they feared the larger measure would meet opposition from moderates.

The real price? “The bill won’t cost $ 3.5 trillion. The finance committee has a wide variety of offsets. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. ” tweeted Ashley Schapitl, a top advisor to the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Ron WydenRonald (Ron) Lee WydenOn The Money – Manchin Curbs Biden Spend Overnight Health Care – FDA Vaccine Scientists Go Down Amid Booster Drama (D) to assist in drafting the tax provisions of the draft law.

LEAD THE DAY

Progressives prepare to counterattack in the control battle

Progressive groups are preparing to promote President Biden’s proposals in the event of tax increases for wealthy individuals and businesses as the Democrats move forward in Congress with a multi-trillion dollar social spending package.

• Biden and the Democrats in Congress want to pay for new spending in areas like education, health care and climate through these tax hikes.
• But corporate groups are funding a lobby lightning bolt against the proposals aimed at Democratic lawmakers who have raised concerns about the tax plans.

Progressive advocacy groups and labor groups hope to counter the K Street lobbying push and keep the Democrats united. They argue that proposals to increase taxes for wealthy people and businesses are in line with public opinion.

“Taxing the rich is incredibly popular, and I think we need to remind some Democrats of that,” said Maura Quint, executive director of the progressive group Tax March. “Ultimately, I believe the Democrats generally support Biden’s plans.”

Naomi Jagoda from The Hill tells us how they’re doing will do it here.

GALE-KRAFT WINDS OF CHANGE

Climate hawks are pushing Biden to replace the Fed chairmanship

Environmentalists urge President Biden to consider the Federal Reserve’s record on climate change under Jerome Powell when he decides whether or not rename the chairman of the central bank for a second term.

After a summer of brutal heat domes, forest fires and torrential storms bordered by Hurricane Ida, progressive lawmakers and activists are calling on Biden to launch an offensive against climate change through the Fed.

The background:

• In contrast to its counterparts in the UK and the European Union, the Fed had kept the discussion about the financial risks of climate change on tiptoe until shortly after Biden’s election in November.
• They did little more than join and set up some committees on the issue, which was enough to anger Republicans and overwhelm climate activists.

“We are not climate policy-makers here who can decide how the United States approaches climate change. We’re a regulator that regulates part of the economy, ”Powell, a Republican, told lawmakers during a February hearing, one year after his term ended.

But with time now a key factor in the fight against climate change, environmentalists are jumping into the debate about Powell’s future, insisting that Biden nominate someone willing to turn the Fed against the fossil fuel industry, rather than giving Powell another four years the helmet. I more here.

Delta blues

Unemployment claims fall by 14,000 despite Delta redundancy fears

New weekly jobless claims hit a new low after the lockdown last week, despite rising COVID-19 cases falling through the delta variant, according to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

• In the week ending August 28, the seasonally adjusted total of initial unemployment insurance claims was 340,000, 14,000 below the revised level for the previous week. The previous week’s total was corrected upwards by 1,000 claims.
• On an unadjusted basis, damage was 287,751, down 11,040 from the unadjusted total for the previous week.
• The number of applications for pandemic unemployment benefits, a program for gig workers and contractors, fell by 14,020 to 102,405 after an increase of around 8,000 the previous week.

While data on jobless claims is volatile and often skewed by government processing issues, the continued decline in new claims suggests that the delta surge has not resulted in widespread layoffs. I break it off here.

Good to know

About two-thirds of registered voters are in favor of boosting the budget of the IRS to increase tax enforcement for high-income taxpayers, which President Biden suggested as a way to pay for the Democrats’ multi-trillion-dollar social spending plan, according to a recent University of Maryland survey.

We still have an eye on:

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance side for the latest news and coverage. I’ll see you Friday.