On The Money — Presented by Citi — Progressives shrug off Manchin warning

Happy Monday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-release.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Today’s Big Deal: High tensions and high stakes between House progressives and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) We’ll also look at the latest on the debt ceiling and stablecoin rule proposals.

For The Hill, I’m Sylvan Lane. Write me at slane@digital-release.thehill.com or @SylvanLane. You can reach my colleagues on the Finance team Naomi Jagoda at njagoda@digital-release.thehill.com or @NJagoda and Aris Folley at afolley@digital-release.thehill.com or @ArisFolley.

Let’s get to it.

 

Manchin frustrates Dems with latest outburst

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday refused to sign off on a $1.75 trillion social spending and climate measure at the heart of President Biden’s economic agenda, throwing a wrench into plans for a swift House vote this week.

• Manchin accused the Democratic authors of the ambitious framework of using “shell games and budget gimmicks” to mask “the real cost” of the legislation that he said could wind up being “twice as high” as advertised if its programs are extended.

• He called media reports asserting that he privately supports the White House framework as “mischaracterizations” and warned that he would not sign off until he fully understands how the complex legislation will impact an economy already flush with trillions of dollars of federal stimulus.

The upshot: His words had a deflating effect on Democratic colleagues who had hoped Manchin would be more of a team player, taking a potential Tuesday vote on the infrastructure bill off the table.

“I say at some point, close the deal,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said with a little exasperated sigh when asked by reporters about Manchin’s comments.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) also expressed her growing impatience and frustration.

“I would like to ask Joe Manchin, ‘You know what Joe, we really need to be moving.’ … I don’t think we’re moving too fast,” she said.

Jordain Carney and Alexander Bolton have the latest here.

House Democrats brush off Manchin: While liberals were exasperated, Democratic negotiators in the House said they’re on the brink of sealing a deal on Biden’s economic agenda despite Manchin’s barbs.

“We intend to pass both bills through the House in the next couple of days,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN Monday not long after Manchin’s press conference.

The state of play: Negotiators worked through the weekend and into Monday to iron out the last stubborn wrinkles in the $1.75 trillion plan — talks that seemed to focus most intently on a contentious provision to rein in prescription drug prices.

• Jayapal said there are outstanding divisions remaining on the issues of prescription drug pricing, child care benefits and immigration.
• But she predicted those differences will be resolved in short order, emphasizing that she’ll trust Biden’s assurances regarding the Senate vote, even if Manchin declines to announce his backing publicly before the House votes.

“I believe that the president is speaking out of the experience that he has had of negotiating … with these senators,” she said. “So I trust the president; he’s going to deliver 51 votes. And I think we just need to bring all the temperature down a little bit.”

Mike Lillis and Scott Wong bring us up to speed.

A MESSAGE FROM CITI

Tackling the startup world’s gender, race and ethnic funding gap.

With our $200 million Impact Investment Fund we are seeking opportunities to invest in businesses that are led or owned by women and minority entrepreneurs, helping to create equitable access to venture capital funding.

LEADING THE DAY

Yellen says reconciliation a ‘viable’ way to tackle debt limit

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said using a budget procedure known as reconciliation is a “viable” solution to raising the debt ceiling for Democrats if Republicans won’t take action to prevent the nation from defaulting on its national debt.

In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Yellen reiterated that tackling the debt ceiling should “absolutely” be done on a bipartisan basis, as it has in the past. But if a current standoff between Republicans and Democrats over the debt ceiling doesn’t let up, Yellen said Democrats may have to handle the problem themselves.

“If Democrats have to do it by themselves, that’s better than defaulting on the debt to teach the Republicans a lesson,” she said.

“To me, as the person who has to pay the bills and watches this on a daily basis — our funds dwindling in our account over time — I very much want to make sure that this is addressed. And this Section 304 procedure is one way in which that could occur,” Yellen said, referring to a section of the budget procedure she said could be used to tackle the debt ceiling.  

Aris Folley has more here.

 

REALM OF THE COIN

White House, bank watchdogs call for tougher stablecoin oversight

Two federal bank regulators and a White House commission on Monday called for increasing federal supervision and regulation of digital tokens with values tied to government currencies or other financial assets.

In a Monday report, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets said Congress should pass legislation bringing so-called “stablecoins” under close federal watch.

• “If well-designed and appropriately regulated, stablecoins could support faster, more efficient, and more inclusive payments options,” the report reads. But the officials also said the tokens pose serious money laundering, illicit finance and even financial stability concerns given their decentralized nature, gaps in federal regulatory authority and growing reach.

• “If stablecoin issuers do not honor a request to redeem a stablecoin, or if users lose confidence in a stablecoin issuer’s ability to honor such a request, runs on the arrangement could occur that may result in harm to users and the broader financial system,” they wrote.

I break it down here.

JES WALKS AWAY

Barclays CEO stepping down after Epstein probe

Barclays CEO Jes Staley is stepping down from his post following an investigation into his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In a statement on Monday, Barclays said the company and Staley were informed of the probe’s preliminary findings on Friday evening, which led to the resignation decision.

“In view of those conclusions, and Mr Staley’s intention to contest them, the Board and Mr Staley have agreed that he will step down from his role as Group Chief Executive and as a director of Barclays,” the bank said, according to CNBC.

While it did not reveal many details on those conclusions, Barclays did say the investigation “makes no findings that Mr. Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr Epstein’s alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays’ support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019.”

Mychael Schnell has more here.

A MESSAGE FROM CITI

Tackling the startup world’s gender, race and ethnic funding gap.

With our $200 million Impact Investment Fund we are seeking opportunities to invest in businesses that are led or owned by women and minority entrepreneurs, helping to create equitable access to venture capital funding.

Good to Know

A group of about 250 millionaires on Monday urged top Democrats to include a proposal to tax billionaires’ investment gains annually in their social-spending package, after the proposal was left out of a framework the White House released last week.

Here’s what else have our eye on:

• Only 35 percent of adults in the U.S. think the economy is doing well, while 65 percent say it’s poor, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. 
• President Biden sought to restore the United States’ role as a major global player on climate change with an address Monday at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.{mosads}