Manchin raises concerns over billionaires' tax as Democrats scramble to close social spending deal

Democrats are scrambling to close the deal on President Joe Biden's landmark social spending legislation on Wednesday before he leaves on an overseas trip Thursday.

Democrats on Wednesday scrambled to close the deal on President Joe Biden's landmark social spending legislation, focusing on new ways to pay for the package, including a billionaires' tax the White House said the president supports.

At the same time, they were hoping to make enough progress that House progressives would agree to vote for a separate Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill before Biden heads overseas Thursday.

Just hours after Senate Democrats on Wednesday morning unveiled the "billionaires tax" -- to tax the wealth of a few hundred of the wealthiest of Americans -- the gambit came into question when Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, a decisive vote on the bigger social spending bill, raised concerns.

"I'm supporting, basically, that everyone should pay their fair share," Manchin told reporters on Capitol Hill. "I don't like the connotation that we're targeting different people."