Biden speech fans faint hopes for social, environment bill

Pivotal Sen. Joe Manchin has floated the broad outlines of a reconfigured social and environment package that aims half its resources at reducing federal deficits

WASHINGTON -- Pivotal Sen. Joe Manchin floated the broad outlines Wednesday of a reconfigured social and environment package that aims half its resources at reducing federal deficits, a day after President Joe Biden suggested refocusing his own more ambitious but stalled plan.

Manchin, D-W.Va., whose opposition doomed Biden's 10-year, roughly $2 trillion measure in December, provided no figures or details. But in briefly describing his ideas to reporters, he provided a faint flicker of hope that Democrats might revive some version of Biden's marquee legislative priority this election year.

Even so, by saying he wanted half the package to be for deficit reduction and controlling inflation, Manchin was suggesting a major reshaping of the legislation that would leave less room for Democratic priorities, leaving its prospects uncertain. The entire effort has drawn unanimous Republican opposition, and it was sidelined in the evenly divided Senate after Manchin said before Christmas that he opposed a version of the bill that the House had passed.

“If you want to talk, don't you think you should get your financial house in order," Manchin said. “If they're not serious about inflation and debt, then it would be hard for me to negotiate on anything."