Joe Manchin proposed a $1.5 trillion spending deal to Chuck Schumer in July

Joe Manchin.
(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a key moderate sticking point in Democratic negotiations over the party's $3.5 trillion spending package, proposed a $1.5 trillion deal to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) this summer, according to Politico. Manchin has before hinted at $1.5 trillion as a guiding number.

Recently, the senator's been distributing the document to his colleagues on the hill in an attempt at showing he has "outlined his red lines on [President Biden's] jobs and families plan," writes Politico. The party's progressive faction has been complaining that Manchin and his moderate counterpart Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) haven't done enough to delineate their concerns over the package's topline number, which has prevented the legislation from advancing. Some of that blame seems to have begun shifting toward Sinema, however; on MSNBC, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said there is "no sense" what Sinema wants, while Manchin's negotiation efforts feel more clear.

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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.