A Senate Democrat on Tuesday said he backs the party’s push to pass a COVID-19 relief bill through budget reconciliation but warned he wouldn’t support a package that includes measures not related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I will vote to move forward with the budget process because we must address the urgency of the COVID-19 crisis. But let me be clear—and these are words I shared with President Biden—our focus must be targeted on the COVID-19 crisis and Americans who have been most impacted by this pandemic. The President remains hopeful that we can have bipartisan support moving forward. I will only support proposals that will get us through and end the pain of this pandemic,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in a statement.
