Senator Manchin opposes: Will Biden's economic package fail due to a party friend?

It is one of the main concerns of Joe Biden's presidency: he wants to fight climate change and strengthen healthcare with a huge investment package.

Senator Manchin opposes: Will Biden's economic package fail due to a party friend?

It is one of the main concerns of Joe Biden's presidency: he wants to fight climate change and strengthen healthcare with a huge investment package. But the project is on the brink - a party colleague is endangering the narrow Senate majority of the US Democrats.

A few months before the US congressional elections, one of President Joe Biden's core projects is again in jeopardy. According to unanimous media reports, Senator Joe Manchin, who like Biden is a member of the Democrats, does not want to support an important investment package if it contains new spending on the fight against climate change or tax increases for the wealthy and companies.

According to the reports, the Democrat informed the party leadership after months of negotiations. In the Senate, Biden is dependent on the votes of all Democrats due to a wafer-thin majority. The senator comes from the state of West Virginia, which is one of the largest energy and especially coal producers in the country.

Manchin had already blocked a more ambitious, multi-trillion version of Biden's plan last year. The original draft envisaged, among other things, tax relief for families and the expansion of health services. More than 500 billion dollars were also planned for the fight against the climate crisis, including investments in renewable energies. In recent months, Democrats have scaled back their ambitions to secure Manchin's support, the New York Times wrote.

"Political headlines are worthless to the millions of Americans who can barely afford food and gas in the face of 9.1 percent inflation," Manchin spokeswoman Sam Runyon said. However, the senator is reportedly open to measures to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.

Based on polls, experts consider it likely that the Democrats will lose their majority in one or both chambers in the upcoming congressional elections in November. Then the Democrats would no longer be able to get their investment package through against the opposition of the Republicans.