YOUNGSTOWN — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said he is confident the nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better bill, which would fund numerous social spending proposals, will be approved this month despite the hesitancy of two of his fellow Democratic senators.

With a 50-50 Senate, and Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote, Democrats cannot afford even one “no” vote as Republicans are united against the proposal.

“It’s going to be done this year,” Brown, D-Cleveland, said during a Monday visit to the Youngstown Playhouse before he went to Washington, D.C. “We’re going to finish. We should be going home for Christmas.”

The U.S. House voted Nov. 19 in support of the bill, 220-213. The bill includes free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, child-care subsidies, a one-year extension of the enhanced child tax credit, an expansion of Medicare to cover hearing aids, four weeks of paid leave for most Americans, an expansion of rental assistance and $550 billion to reduce climate change.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said he wants changes to the bill and isn’t sure it will pass the Senate this month while U.S. Sen. Krysten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, hasn’t committed to supporting the bill.

The bill originally had a $3.5 trillion price tag, but was significantly reduced to get the support of Manchin and Sinema.

“We’re very close” to passage, Brown said Monday. “I talk to both of them.”

Brown said: “I think both of them will be in support of this bill very close to the way it looks right now.”

The House would have to approve any changes made by the Senate.

PLAYHOUSE GRANT

Brown toured the Youngstown Playhouse on Monday to highlight how Shuttered Venue Operators Grants helped cultural and entertainment businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic and reopen. Several other Mahoning Valley venues and event promoters also received SVOG money.

The playhouse received a $108,000 grant that allowed it to pay its four employees as well as utilities and operating expenses, Dr. John Cox, board president, said.

The SVOG money provided the playhouse the ability “to do shows,” Cox said.

The grant “has been vital in keeping our doors open and helping us to do what we do best: live theater,” he said.

The playhouse reopened its stage this past weekend, performing “Elf,” for the first time to the public since before the pandemic started. Its production of “The Color Purple” in late September and early October was at the larger DeYor Performing Arts Center.

Brown was a cosponsor of the Save Our Stages Act, the legislation that established SVOG in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

“Saving these arts organizations not only supports the performers and the workers, it helps local businesses and the whole city’s economy,” Brown said.

In Ohio, about 400 venues received $350 million in funding through the SVOG program.

Brown said Monday that the best way for the nation to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic is for everyone to get vaccinated.

If that happened in “the next two weeks, our economy would immediately take off,” he said. “There are plenty of people now that don’t go back to work because they can’t get child care — safe, affordable child care. The reason they can’t get safe, affordable child care is because of legitimate fears of the virus.”

Asked about congressional redistricting in Ohio, approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, Brown called it: “The arrogance of power beyond what I’ve ever seen in state government. We have a state government that’s frankly been corrupt for 20 years exceeded perhaps only by its incompetence.”

Brown was hopeful the Ohio Supreme Court, which will hear lawsuits over the constitutionality of the congressional map, will require the Legislature to draw a fair one.