Schumer says US Senate to vote on Biden's social spending bill early next year

WASHINGTON - US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday said that the Senate will vote on President Joe Biden's roughly 2-trillion-US-dollar social spending and climate bill, known as the Build Back Better (BBB) Act, early next year.

"Nearly all of us were disappointed by the decision to delay floor consideration of the Build Back Better Act because Senator (Joe) Manchin could not come to an agreement with the president," Schumer said in a letter to Democratic colleagues.

"However, neither that delay, nor other recent pronouncements, will deter us from continuing to try to find a way forward. We simply cannot give up," he said.

Schumer noted that the Senate will consider the Build Back Better Act "very early in the new year" so that "every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television."

"We are going to vote on a revised version of the House-passed Build Back Better Act - and we will keep voting on it until we get something done," he said.

Schumer's letter came after Manchin, a key moderate Democratic senator from West Virginia, said on Sunday that he would not vote for Biden's social spending and climate bill, delivering a major blow to the White House.

"This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do," Manchin said on "Fox News Sunday", citing concerns about the surging inflation and the 29-trillion-dollar national debt.

Progressive and moderate Democrats have disagreed publicly on the size and scope of the social spending package for months, although House Democrats were able to pass its version of the bill last month. Passage of the bill in the Senate will require unanimous support from the Democratic caucus.

"There is no hard procedural deadline for BBB on the horizon, but the first quarter of the year will probably determine whether it becomes law or not," Michael Pugliese and Karl Vesely, economic analysts at Wells Fargo Securities, said Monday in an analysis.

"It is hard for us to imagine major legislation passing in the second half of the year when midterm election season will be in full swing," they noted.