Senate Democrats Are Now Pushing For A New $500 Billion Climate & Obamacare Spending Package

✪ Senate Democrats want to pass a new $500 billion spending package that would include major reforms to health care, climate change, and taxes…

NBC News is reporting that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who was primarily responsible for tanking the Build Back Better Act, is continuing to hold talks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on a new reconciliation package that would spend $500 billion and raise $1 trillion in revenue.

The package would primarily focus on funding health care & energy with new taxes. One source told NBC News that the “ceiling” for climate change funding in the new spending bill would be capped at $300 billion, making it a significant fixture of the package. Another provision of the bill allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs would be expected to save money.

This would allow for Senate Democrats to potentially include extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies in the bill, which would cost $220 billion if the subsidies were extended permanently, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Manchin has not nixed the idea of an enhanced Obamacare package, although the senator, according to the NBC News source, said he is exploring options to continue the subsidies at a lower cost.

“He understands the ACA. He’s campaigned on it,” the source reports.

Marc Goldwein, a policy expert at the Committee for Responsible Budget, said Manchin has a couple of proposed options to offer enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies at a lower cost. He said the federal government could cut off benefits to recipients after they reach a certain income threshold.

Another option Manchin could explore is reversing the 2017 Donald Trump move to help cover out-of-pocket costs for lower-income customers. Goldwein said this would raise roughly $200 billion over ten years. ✪