- The Center for American Progress sent a memo to Democrats urging them to draft a skinny Build Back Better.
- "We need to be disciplined in our focus," the memo said.
- Democrats are likely to cut their ambitions further to secure Manchin's support, a Democratic holdout.
An influential Democratic think-tank sent a memorandum on Tuesday to Democratic offices urging them to begin coalescing around a skinnier Build Back Better plan that can pass both the House and Senate.
The memo issued by Patrick Gaspard, CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said the House-approved legislation had no pathway to becoming law. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia sunk it late last year, leaving Democrats and President Joe Biden with little to show for half a year of protracted negotiations.
The memo includes a handful of the think tank's priorities for the domestic spending bill, and there are some major progressive goals left out. CAP excluded measures in the House legislation like the expanded child tax credit, affordable housing and four weeks of paid leave. Manchin has objected to the planned one-year renewal of the child tax credit and paid leave.
"We can yet – with urgency – fashion a bill that will address these crises, lower costs for American families, and that can garner 50 votes in the Senate and 218 votes in the House," the memo read, adding that failure to act "would have disastrous consequences beyond this November."
"We need to be disciplined in our focus," the memo said. "We cannot allow ourselves to get distracted by things that don't meet these criteria."
The think-tank identified three broad areas of consensus in climate, healthcare, and climate. Then it listed specific provisions that could make up a skinny Build Back Better plan:
- Prescription drug price controls
- Childcare subsidies
- Affordable Care Act subsidies
- Universal pre-K
- Climate and clean energy tax breaks
The CAP memo reflects how discussions on Biden's big bill could soon enter a new stage and prompt Democrats to scale back their ambitions even further. With Manchin in opposition, Democrats can't advance the centerpiece of their agenda aimed at broadening healthcare, childcare, and combating the climate emergency.
The conservative West Virginia Democrat has spoken favorably about specific parts of the bill like universal pre-K and climate spending. Biden signaled earlier this year that the legislation may be broken up into "chunks."
But it doesn't appear to be atop Manchin's list of priorities. He told reporters Monday that had been no formal negotiations or "anything of that sort" on reviving Build Back Better. Instead, he's assumed a lead negotiating role in efforts to overhaul the Electoral Count Act and wants to secure a bipartisan election-reform deal with Republicans.