WASHINGTON (AP) – Government reports on rising inflation and the potential costs of President Joe Biden’s social and environment legislation raised fresh questions Friday about the bill’s fate, with both sides hoping the new numbers would influence pivotal Sen. Joe Manchin.
The moderate Manchin, D-W.Va., has spent months forcing Democrats to trim the 10-year, $2 trillion package, arguing it’s too expensive and at times citing growing inflation as a reason to slow work on the bill. On Friday, the Labor Department said consumer prices grew last month at an annual rate of 6.8%, the highest in 39 years.
A separate report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that if many of the bill’s temporary spending boosts and tax cuts were made permanent, it would add $3 trillion to the price tag. That would more than double its 10-year cost to around $5 trillion. Democrats called the projections from the Republican-requested report fictitious.
Manchin aides did not respond to requests for comment. Manchin said in a brief interview Thursday that he wanted to know “where we are in inflation and where we are on the true price” of the bill, adding he was “very concerned.”
The latest inflation figures prompted Biden to use some of his strongest language yet, telling reporters at the White House on Friday, “I think this is the peak of the crisis.” While the numbers illustrate a clear political danger for the administration, the recent performance of financial markets suggests investors don’t see inflation as a long-term problem.