Hope for Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget package bolstered by Manchin

Senate Democrats are off to the races after unveiling their $3.5 trillion budget package, with provisions to fight climate change and bolster health care and family service programs over the next decade, The Wall Street Journal reports. The legislation will need backing from all 50 liberal lawmakers to pass, however, and luckily, a key Democratic swing vote appears ready for discussions.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who previously balked at the thought of a reconciliation package over $2 trillion, told CNN's Manu Raju on Wednesday that he is "open to looking at everything" his colleagues have provided, a potential key vote of confidence in the sure-to-be "painstaking" negotiations.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.