Schumer rallies Democrats after surprise deal with Manchin

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told fellow Senate Democrats on Thursday they now have an opportunity to achieve two “hugely important” priorities on health care and climate change, if they stick together and approve a deal he brokered with hold-out Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

Schumer spoke at a private caucus meeting after the startling turnaround over an expansive agreement he and Manchin struck that had eluded them for months. The Democratic leader's comments were relayed by a person familiar with the meeting at the Capitol complex and granted anonymity to discuss it.

The $739 billion package package would address health care and climate, raising taxes on high earners and large corporations and reducing federal debt.

Schumer warned his colleagues in the 50-50 Senate that final passage will be hard. The Democrats face staunch opposition from Republicans and have no votes to spare, relying on their own razor-thin majority. Schumer said they would need to be disciplined in messaging and focus, but he believes they can get it done, the person said.

Two Democrats said the Senate would vote on the wide-ranging measure next week, setting up President Joe Biden and Democrats for an unexpected victory in the runup to November elections in which their congressional control is in peril. A House vote would follow, perhaps later in August, with unanimous Republican opposition in both chambers seemingly certain.

Just hours before the announcement late Wednesday, Schumer, D-N.Y., and Manchin, D-W.Va., seemed at loggerheads and headed toward a far narrower package limited — at Manchin's insistence — to curbing pharmaceutical prices and extending federal health care subsidies. Earlier Wednesday, numerous Democrats said they were all but resigned to the more...