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It’s a soap opera that’s been running for months and doesn’t want to end. In Washington, Congressional Democrats are unable to agree on the investment plans promised by Joe Biden. As long as the president is on a tour of Europe, elected officials keep tearing each other apart.
With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin
Progressive House Democrats have been saying this last weekend: They are ready to vote for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan if centrist senators commit to a second plan, social spending.
This Monday, November 1, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who has already halved the bill, answered him bluntly.
« I will not support a reconciliation plan without knowing the consequences for our debt, our economy and our country. We won’t know until we work on this lesson. For the good of my country, I urge my colleagues in the House to vote and pass the bipartisan infrastructure plan. He is bipartisan. 69 senators voted in favor. We have been working on this for several months. And as I said before, it’s not going to work for me to support what you want by holding this law hostage. Joe Manchin said.
And what they want is the part devoted specifically to climate: over $500 billion which is therefore still not there, while Joe Biden is at COP26 in Scotland devoted to these questions. A few days ago on television the president seemed to have made the pledge to Senator Manchin: ” who is not a bad person. This is a friend. And they always ended up voting ».
This Monday, the White House reported that the plan addresses all of Manchin’s concerns and reiterates his belief.