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Leader Schumer called Speaker Pelosi as the rescue plan stalled in the Senate. No glee. Just business. It was time to finalize the legislation.
We are disappointed we can’t get the minimum wage in there. It meant so much, Schumer told her. But this is the reality. Pelosi agreed. It was a disappointment, but they could not let it blow up Biden’s bill.
“We will live to pass it again,” Pelosi said of the minimum wage hike. “We will, and by the time we pass it, it’s going to have to be more than $15 an hour.”
Beyond taking out the wage hike, Schumer said, we’re taking billions out of state and local aid and moving it into rural internet broadband.
And third, the weekly unemployment benefit is to be reduced from $400 to $300.
My liberals won’t like that change, Pelosi said.
She knew her members. She kept close tabs on the House Progressive Caucus. They loved a big fight, especially with her, especially “the Squad” of younger female progressives such as Representative Ocasio-Cortez, who had broken ranks with Pelosi on an immigration bill she had backed. If told to take a $300 benefit, down from $400 and without any new incentives, she knew they could rebel.
Every change is a cut against the majority of my caucus, she said. If you want them to swallow this bill, you have to give us something.
Schumer came up with a change—a tax credit of $10,200, so people’s unemployment insurance would not be taxable.
This made sense to Klain, who was involved in all the negotiations and monitored them closely. Without the tax credit, many unemployed people were going to get big tax bills on Tax Day. It would be a nightmare and there would be what he called “one of these stupid-Congress-should-do-something moments.”
Schumer worked with Senator Tom Carper, Democrat of Delaware, to cobble together a new amendment: keep the benefit at $300 and extend it through October, along with the tax write-off up to $10,200.
Pelosi told Schumer and the White House that she could get it done, but things had to hold. No more tweaks. “Let’s just end it,” she said. “Let’s just get it.” Klain and others did not argue with her.
Schumer’s whip team was muted and guarded about what would happen on Friday when all this was coming to a vote.
“As a whip, you don’t assume anything until the roll call is made,” Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told CNN. “Whether or not we can hold it with 50 Democratic members staying loyal to the very end, and the vice president coming in to break the tie, that still remains to be seen.”
When Manchin found out about the new amendment of $300 through October 4 with the tax credit of $10,200 that had been added to appease the House liberals, he blew up. “That wasn’t our deal.” Yes, he had promised Biden that he would not let the rescue plan fail. But he had never agreed to this lengthened unemployment timeline.
“Well,” Manchin told his aides, as if he were speaking to Klain or Biden, “you’re saying I’m not sticking to my deal, but you’re not sticking to your deal.” He stormed out of the office.
Klain arrived at the White House early on Friday, March 5, and saw that everyone was unhappy.
On the Senate floor, votes on Bernie Sanders’s amendment to add in the minimum wage hike to $15 were taking place. It was likely to be a long vote. But Sanders wasn’t threatening to vote against the rescue bill if it failed. A minimum wage hike only got 42 votes.
“If Bernie Sanders had said, ‘You know, I’m dying on this hill,’ that would have been the breaking point,” Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told others. The rescue plan would have been killed. But Sanders was still sticking with the bill and standing with Biden.
Klain had engaged consistently with Sanders since the primaries. During the transition, Klain and Sanders had considered bringing Sanders into the cabinet as secretary of labor. Sanders privately told Klain he loved the idea. He could kick a little ass and show up at union rallies and outside Amazon facilities. But when the Democrats won the majority, both Klain and Sanders decided to shelve the idea. Sanders would instead be a committee chairman.
When Klain’s ally, liberal think tank leader Neera Tanden, was facing sharp criticism for her aggressive anti-Sanders tweets in the wake of Biden nominating her to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, Republicans tried to bait Sanders to lash out at her.
“You called Sanders everything but an ignorant slut,” alluding to the famous Saturday Night Live skit, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana declared during her confirmation hearing.
In a gesture of goodwill toward the Biden White House, Sanders handled it quietly. He had Tanden over to his Senate office. He printed out her tweets to go over with her. He wanted her to make sure she knew he was unhappy with them. But he did not want a public brawl.
“I’d like everyone to leave,” Sanders said to his staff. “Just me in here.”
Schumer had only been majority leader a short time, but Manchin had carefully laid out the terms of engagement and explained how he would operate as part of the majority.
Manchin repeated the approach he had used with Harry Reid: “If I can go home and explain it, I’ll vote for it. If I can’t explain it, I can’t vote for it.” He had always given Reid a heads-up on his voting decision to avoid surprises. Since West Virginia was the reddest state, he said, he would always be the most independent and the one who defected the most from party-line votes.
That morning, Manchin went to Schumer’s leadership office in the Capitol.
“Hey, Chuck,” Manchin said, “I just want you to know I’m not going to vote for this amendment you have on unemployment.” He was referring to the Carper amendment which expanded the $300 supplemental through October 4, plus the $10,200 tax credit to satisfy the House. “This isn’t the deal we agreed to.” He instead would vote for Portman’s amendment. “Let me tell you something. We just disagree. Do you understand that? We disagree.”
Manchin strolled down to the floor. Word had gotten out. Senator Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucused with the Democrats, went up to him. “Joe, let’s just take this deal. It’s going to be fine.”
No, no, Manchin said. It’s not.
Manchin’s chief of staff, Lance West, suggested to Manchin he work from his hideaway office in the basement of the Capitol. It was near a small cafeteria where he could get food and avoid other senators.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, was making her own soundings in the Senate and called Steve Ricchetti at the White House. Manchin was not playing around, she warned. The rescue plan could go down. Tonight. Biden’s first 100 days, scarred by an intra-party showdown.
The call was a trigger.
Klain and others approached Biden. Maybe it was time for him to call Manchin, who had promised him he would not let the rescue bill fail.
Biden hesitated. He had been through hundreds of legislative fights. The presidential call had a special weight. It was the final twist of the arm.
“I can only make this call once,” he said. “We’ve got to decide if this is the moment to do it. Is this right?”
Everyone seemed to think it was.
“I can only do this once,” Biden repeated.
Biden called Joe Manchin around 1 p.m. Manchin was in his hideaway with his chief of staff Lance West.
“Joe,” Biden said, “you wanted the unemployment smaller. We did that. You wanted certain dates” for the supplemental unemployment benefit. “We addressed that. You wanted checks targeted. We did that. You know, this is basically it. You need to come along.”
Manchin corrected Biden. He said additional unemployment checks, though smaller, went for a longer time into the fall. People would be paid for not working for an extended period.
And then he voiced frustration about this new $10,200 tax credit, which he had just learned about. Someone who was not working was going to get an additional tax break, while someone who worked would not get it.
“Joe,” Biden said, “if you don’t come along, you’re really fucking me. I need you on this. Find your way to yes on this.”
“I don’t know, I promised Rob Portman,” Manchin said. He said he was talking to economists. They were telling him the economy would take off like a rocket. Mr. President, we need people ready to go back to work no later than July. Mr. President, you have said that we will have vaccines available to all citizens in our country who want it by May.
I can’t lose this bill, Biden said. His voice was insistent, flecked with irritation. You’re going to make me lose my bill, Biden said.
“You have to trust me,” Manchin said. “You will not.” He said his intention was not to kill the bill, only to get some parts removed. He was with Biden, but he wanted the White House to work with him.
“Joe, damn it,” Biden said impatiently. “I just can’t lose this bill.”
“Mr. President,” Manchin said, “in all due respect, you couldn’t lose this bill with a keg of dynamite. A whole lot of nitroglycerin wouldn’t blow it up. It’s got so much good in it.”
He added, “Every little municipality is going to get money. They are, for the first time, taking control of their destiny. They can fix their water lines, sewer lines, internet service. We’ve got a lot of good here, Mr. President.”
“Joe,” Biden said, “don’t kill my bill.” It was a personal request.
“Your bill is not going to be killed, Mr. President. I’m assuring you that.” Then the Manchin stubbornness that the White House feared surfaced. “I’m not going to cave on this. I need something here. You know, we have to reach a deal. But don’t worry, Mr. President. We’ll get this done.”
The call ended. Biden told his aides to make sure this thing got done. Klain said he was sure Manchin’s refusal was about Portman.
In the hideaway, Manchin looked at chief of staff Lance West.
“They know where I’ve been, don’t they?” Manchin asked. “They know I’ve been at $300. This isn’t new for them.”
“Of course, you’ve been saying that a long time,” West said.
“Get to work, get it fixed,” Manchin said. “Tell me who to call. I’ll start calling. People will get this fixed.”
Schumer realized it was time to maneuver. He proposed they sequence the amendments. Let Manchin vote for the Portman amendment first, keep his promise. Then they could put the Carper amendment on the floor. It would be drafted to supersede the Portman amendment and Manchin could vote for it. The bill would then have 50 votes and the tie broken by Vice President Harris.
Pelosi told Schumer he had to keep their deal in place. If Portman’s amendment passed and was left as is, and the benefit went down to $300 and only through July, she could not guarantee passage in the House.