At a press conference on Monday, key moderate lawmaker Joe Manchin called on the House of Representatives to vote on the Senate-passed $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, warning them that "holding this bill hostage" is not the way to get him to support the larger Build Back Better climate change and social spending framework.

The news comes as Congressional Democrats are trying to hash out a path forward on both bills, the two major pieces of President Joe Biden's economic agenda.

The Build Back Better framework, unveiled formally by the White House last week, has provisions for social programs, including free pre-Kindergarten, and provide roughly $550 billion to tackle climate change, which the White House calling the largest-ever investment in combatting the climate crisis.

The infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August with 19 Republican votes, along with all 50 Democrats, would provide funding for roads and bridges, ports, trains and public transportation, expanding broadband access and a number of other public works projects.

The $1 trillion bill has been held up by progressive Democrats in the House, who have urged the passage of both bills at the same time. But Manchin, a critical vote in the evenly divided Senate, slammed House progressives for not voting on the bill, accusing them of playing politics.

"In my view, this is not how the United States Congress should operate," Manchin said Monday. "It's time to vote on the [infrastructure] bill, up or down."

Manchin said that the "political games" have to stop, lamenting that "in all of my years of public service," the West Virginia lawmaker has "never seen anything like this."

"Holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconcilation bill," Manchin said, defending his position that he has been working with Democrats "in good faith" throughout the process of negotiating the reconciliation bill.

Reconciliation refers to the process by which the Senate can bypass its 60-vote legislative filibuster threshold and pass budgetary measures with a simple majority vote. With Republicans universally opposed to the bill, Democrats need all 50 of their votes in the evenly divided Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris' crucial tie-breaking vote – making Manchin a crucial gatekeeper on this legislation. 

Manchin went on to say that he wants to see more information on the impact the reconciliation bill would have on the economy and the deficit, likely suggesting he wants to wait for the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office to weigh in before voting.

"I will not support the reconciliation bill until we know its impact on the debt and the economy," Manchin said, adding that Democrats "must allow time for complete transparency and analysis on the impact of changes to our tax code and energy and climate policies."

One of Manchin's Democratic colleagues, Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, attempted to tamp down some of the rhetoric following Manchin's remarks.

"We need a CBO score anyway, in order to process the bill through the Parliamentarian on the Senate side," Schatz wrote on Twitter, not mentioning Manchin by name. "None of what was said was exactly new. The tone alarmed people, but substantively nothing has changed."

Manchin emphasized he has worked hard on a "fiscally responsible" reconcilation bill, saying he won't support a bill "without greater clarity" on its impact on inflation.

"This is a recipe for economic crisis," Manchin said, adding that he sees shell games" and "budget gimmicks" in the approximately $1.75 trillion bill, despite President Biden saying last week it was "fiscally responsible and "fully paid for."

"As more of the real details outline the basic framework are released, what I see are shell games, budget gimmicks, that make the real costs of the so-called $1.75T bill estimated to be twice that amount," Manchin said. 

To be clear, I will not support the reconciliation legislation without knowing how the bill would impact our debt and our economy and our country," Manchin said. "We won't know that until we work through the text."

"I'm open to supporting a final bill that helps move our country forward," Manchin said. "But I'm equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country."

“Let me say one thing: I’m not gonna negotiate in public on this,” reiterating that he's been working in good faith with his Democratic colleagues on the reconciliation bill.

“It’s time to pass a bill and quit playing games," Manchin said, before leaving the press conference without taking questions.

Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progessive Caucus, said that Manchin's comments will not impact progressives, and that they are prepared to vote for both bills.

"The president says he can get 51 votes for the bill, we are going to trust him," Jayapal said on CNN on Monday. "We're tired of continuing to wait for one or two people."

"We intend to pass both bills in the next couple of days," she added.

In a statement released after Manchin's press conference, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Build Back Better legislation meets all of Manchin's criteria for fiscal responsibility and that they are "confident" it will win the West Virginia lawmaker's support.

"Senator Manchin says he is prepared to support a Build Back Better plan that combats inflation, is fiscally responsible, and will create jobs," Psaki wrote in the statement. "The plan the House is finalizing meets those tests—it is fully paid for, will reduce the deficit, and brings down costs for health care, child care, elder care, and housing."

"Experts agree: Seventeen Nobel Prize-winning economists have said it will reduce inflation," she added, referring to a letter signed by more than a dozen recipients of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in support of his legislation.

"As a result, we remain confident that the plan will gain Senator Manchin’s support," Psaki concluded.

On the Senate floor Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that work continues on the Build Back Better bill.

"We are making regular progress to lower prescription drug prices as we work to refine the agreement, Schumer said. "We're going to keep working to get this legislation over the finish line."

Schumer said that they are getting closer to presenting legislative text on the bill.

"Nobody is going to get everything they want in the deal," Schumer added, echoing President Biden's previous messages of compromise. "But it'll have some things that everybody wants."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also said that "the House, Senate and White House continue to move forward with the Build Back Better Act" in a statement on Monday afternoon, adding that it "will be one of the most historic, consequential legislative victories For The People in a century, creating millions of jobs, delivering a massive middle class tax cut and lowering families’ costs, while making the wealthiest few and big corporations pay their fair share."

“Build Back Better will grow the economy without increasing inflation, because it is fully paid for," Pelosi wrote, citing the letter the Nobel-winning economists wrote: "'Because this agenda invests in long-term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease longer-term inflationary pressures.’"

"Democrats look forward" to passing both bills, Pelosi concluded.