Senate will begin consideration of Schumer-Manchin deal on Saturday

The Senate will begin consideration of the compromise spending package, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer negotiated with West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, on Saturday.

Schumer announced on Thursdays that the upper chamber of Congress would hold its first vote to advance the plan at 12:30 p.m., according to The Hill.

“For the information of Senators, the Senate will next convene on Saturday at noon. The next vote will be at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, on a motion to discharge a nomination. We expect to vote on the motion to proceed to the reconciliation legislation on Saturday afternoon,” he said.

Manchin announced in late July that he and Schumer had reached an agreement on the key environmental and tax provisions to include in the scaled down version of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan.

The West Virginia senator declined to support the original version of the $740 billion budget reconciliation package, citing concerns over inflation, which reached 9.1% in June.

The revised version drops many of the original plan's proposed tax increases on high-income earners and Manchin reportedly secured support for key energy projects benefiting his state as part of the agreement.

Of the funding the legislation allocates, $369 billion will go to energy and climate projects while the remainder will be spent to reduce the deficit, The Hill reported.

Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has not publicly backed the plan and her opposition would kill the deal in the evenly divided Senate, barring Republican support. The outlet suggested, however, that the scheduled vote signaled Democratic confidence she will support the proposal.