Topline

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday said he remains opposed to using a process that would allow Democrats to pass an infrastructure bill in the Senate without Republican votes after three months of talks between the White House and Republican senators have failed to culminate in a deal.

Key Facts

Manchin told NBC News reporter Garrett Haake, “I don’t think we should. I really don’t,” when asked if Democrats should use budget reconciliation to pass a package.

Budget reconciliation allows the Senate’s 50 Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris to pass certain fiscal bills on their own rather than having to recruit 10 Republicans to help overcome a filibuster.

Manchin said in early March, before Biden unveiled his infrastructure proposal, he opposed using reconciliation to cut Republicans out of the process “before we start trying.”

Manchin told NBC of a prospective infrastructure bill on Thursday, “Right now, basically, we need to be bipartisan,” after affirming his prior commitment not to do away with the filibuster.

A bipartisan bill doesn’t seem to be forthcoming, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Joe Biden’s proposal to pay for the plan with a 15% minimum corporate tax rate is a “hard sell” for senators in both parties.

Big Number

$1.7 trillion. That’s where the price tag of Biden’s infrastructure plan stands as of mid-May, a significant draw-down from his initial $2 trillion proposal. Republicans, for their part, have gone up from $568 billion to roughly $1 trillion.

Crucial Quote

“If we can't reach a bipartisan agreement I would expect the administration and congressional Democrats to push through a very large package. But that will be extremely controversial," McConnell said during a press event in Kentucky on Thursday.