Progressive House staffers occupy Schumer’s office as he negotiates with Manchin

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Progressive House staffers staged a protest in Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office, urging him to keep negotiating on climate change legislation amid talks with Senator Joe Manchin.

Saul Levin, a staffer for Representative Cori Bush, posted photos of himself and other members of Ms Bush’s team in Mr Schumer’s office on Monday.

“To my knowledge, this has never been done,” he tweeted. “We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment. Follow along as we fight with everything we have to jumpstart climate negotiations.”

The move comes as Mr Schumer is in negotiations with Mr Manchin. Mr Manchin announced on Monday that he had tested positive for Covid-19, which in turn came not long after Mr Schumer had to self-isolate after he tested positive for Covid.

“We’re asking Senator Schumer to negotiate like this is the coldest summer of the rest of our lives (it is),” Mr Levin tweeted.

Mr Schumer and Mr Manchin have been negotiating a piece of legislation that would tackle climate change, prescription drug pricing, continuing subsidies for the Affordable Care Act with hopes of paying for it by raising taxes.

But Mr Manchin put the negotiations on hold when it came to taxation and climate change earlier this month after the Consumer Price Index revealed that inflation rose by 9.1 per cent from June 2021 to June 2022.

“We are putting our bodies on the line because we have no other choice. Follow along for updates from inside,” Mr Levin tweeted.

Democrats hope to pass the legislation through budget reconciliation, which allow them to sidestep a Republican filibuster as long as a bill relates to the budget or spending. But that means they need every Democratic Senator in their 50-member caucus to vote for the legislation and have Vice President Kamala Harris break the tie.