U.S. Senate to miss year-end deadline on $1.75 trillion Biden bill
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[December 18, 2021]
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate
steered toward an end-of-year recess on Friday as Democrats were unable
to pass President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion domestic investment program
and major election reforms by a self-imposed Christmas deadline.
The deadlock over these two high-profile bills put in jeopardy the
continuation of an expanded child tax credit for some 3.6 million poor
families, which expires on Dec. 31.
Democrats had hoped to extend for another year this six-month-old pilot
program as part of Biden's "Build Back Better" legislation that would
expand an array of social programs and battle climate change.
Now, with many senators already out of town, the debate on these is
expected to resume in January.
Meanwhile, Democratic senators were expected to continue negotiations.
Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has been a key holdout and his
support is crucial in a chamber where the Democrats have the slimmest
margin of control.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the Democrats'
setbacks in a speech in which he said: "The president requested more
time to continue his negotiations (on Build Back Better) so we will keep
working...to bring this bill over the finish line."
Schumer did not say when that work might conclude.
Rank-and-file Democrats were resigned to missing Schumer's year-end
deadline for passing the domestic investment and voting rights bills.
They had particularly wanted the latter approved promptly so that states
have more time to prepare for the November, 2022 congressional
elections, in which Republicans hope to win back control of Congress.
"There's no reason to put it up on the floor and fail" before enough
votes are nailed down, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said of the Build
Back Better plan.
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U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) talks to reporters as he leaves the
U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., December 15, 2021.
REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
The voting rights bill comes in the face of many
Republican-controlled states pursuing legislation to reduce voters'
access to the ballot.
'MORE TIME' THAN ANTICIPATED
Even as the Senate on Friday debated a long list of Biden nominees
for ambassadorships, federal judges and other high-level
administration jobs, 20 senators, mainly Republicans, already had
left town to begin their breaks.
Earlier, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that
recent talks with Manchin were encouraging.
"The president's going to get this done and we're going to get it
across the finish line. And yes, it's going to take more time than
we anticipated," she told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden
traveled to South Carolina.
Psaki also raised the possibility of the Treasury Department making
double monthly child tax credit payments in February if Congress is
not able to renew that program until early next year so that none of
the recipients lose money.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by
Richard Cowan and Susan Heavey; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Chizu
Nomiyama and Frances Kerry)
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