Democratic promise to pass Biden’s climate and social spending package by Christmas appears unlikely

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that he was hopeful that the spending package could reach the floor by Dec. 13 – just two days before Congress has to raise the debt ceiling – but Democrats are growing increasingly weary of his target’s viability.

The Democrats’ goal to pass the Biden administration’s sweeping climate and social spending package by Christmas is looking more and more like a pipedream, as infighting in the Senate continues to delay the $2 trillion bill’s arrival to the floor.

Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, for example, is now predicting that the legislation will likely wait until after the holiday season and aides have stated that the bill likely won’t pass until January, The Hill reported.

“I think there are issues with the parliamentarian’s office,” said one Democratic aide. “I don’t think there’s the person power in the parliamentarian’s office to get everything done quickly.”

“It’s a chokepoint,” the aide added.

Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is currently battling breast cancer and has reportedly had to take personal health days in order to attend to her health.

But other aides remain hopeful that the bill could still pass by Christmas, despite a wide array of challenges that still stand in its way.

“Everyone is being respectful of the parliamentarian and we believe we’re still on track with our timeline of getting this bill done before Christmas,” the aide noted.

But Republican senators aren’t the only ones that are raising concerns about the massive spending bill.

Sen. Joe Manchin has stated that he’d like Congress to take a “strategic pause” and has expressed worries about inflation. He also raised concerns about another wave of COVID-19 after the discovery of the omicron variant sent markets into a tailspin last week.

Currently, it is unclear if he would vote to begin debate on the package.

The West Virginia lawmaker met both with Schumer and McConnell last week in an attempt to reach a deal he could support in good faith.

There is also growing opposition within the Democratic caucus to a proposal in the House-passed budget reconciliation package that would lift the cap on SALT deductions from $10,000 to $80,000.

“I’m deeply concerned,” said Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, adding that there’s a “very large and growing” group of Democrats raising concerns about the measure.

Sen. Mark Warner is also raising concerns about the tax break that would ultimately benefit high income Americans.

“I’ve expressed repeatedly that there are some concerns that this seems [like] SALT done in a way too generous a way,” he said. “The arguments that the wealthiest Americans are going to disproportionately benefit with tax cuts in effect because we weren’t able to roll back the Trump tax cuts [is] pretty problematic with me.”

But even if Democrats come together and agree on a compromise to bring the bill to the floor, GOP lawmakers including Sens. Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Roger Marshall have threatened to prevent the vote and ultimately force a government shutdown.