Joe Manchin Won't Vote for Biden's Climate and Family Bill | Time
Category: News & Politics
Via: texan1211 • 3 years ago • 15 commentsBy: Alan Fram and Hope Yen (Time)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., walks to a caucus lunch at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 17, 2021. J. Scott Applewhite—AP By Alan Fram and Hope Yen/AP Updated: December 19, 2021 10:04 PM EST | Originally published: December 19, 2021 12:15 PM EST
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he cannot back his party's signature $2 trillion social and environment bill, dealing a potentially fatal blow to President Joe Biden's leading domestic initiative heading into an election year when Democrats' narrow hold on Congress was already in peril.
Manchin told "Fox News Sunday" that after five-and-half months of negotiations among Democrats in which he was his party's chief obstacle to passage, "I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there."
Manchin's choice of words seemed to crack the door open to continued talks with Biden and top congressional Democrats over reshaping the legislation. But the West Virginia senator all but said the bill would die unless it met his demands for a smaller, less sweeping package — something that would be hard for many Democrats in the narrowly divided Congress to accept.
The bill would provide hundreds of billions of dollars to help millions of families with children by extending a more generous child tax credit, creating free preschool and bolstering child care aid. There is more than $500 billion for tax breaks and spending aimed at curbing carbon emissions, which experts consider the largest federal expenditure ever to combat climate change.
Other provisions would limit prescription drug price increases, create hearing benefits for Medicare recipients and bolster aid for the elderly, housing and job training. Nearly all of it would be paid for with higher taxes on the wealthy and large corporations.
In an unusually hardball response to a lawmaker whose vote is crucial in the 50-50 Senate, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Manchin's announcement "a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position" and "a breach of his commitments" to Biden and congressional Democrats. She pointedly said that Manchin, whose state is among the nation's poorest, "will have to explain" why many families will have to cope with higher health and child care costs the bill is intended to address.
Psaki said in a statement that Manchin had "in person" given Biden a written proposal last Tuesday that was "the same size and scope" of a framework for the bill that Democrats rallied behind in October, and agreed he'd continue talks. That framework had a 10-year cost of $1.85 trillion. Officials hadn't previously disclosed that Tuesday meeting.
"We will continue to. press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word," Psaki said.
A Manchin aide gave the White House about a 20-minute notice before the lawmaker announced his position on national television, said a person familiar with the senator's actions who described them only on condition of anonymity.
The legislation's collapse would deepen bitter ideological divisions between progressive and moderate Democrats. That would imperil the party's ability to get behind any substantial legislation before the November congressional elections, when their control of Congress seems in doubt. And it would add a note of chaos just as Democrats need to demonstrate accomplishments and show a united front to voters.
Manchin's declaration was a stunning repudiation of Biden's and his party's top goal, and its delivery — a last-minute heads up from a staffer — seemed little short of a slap in the face to Biden. A rejection of the legislation has been seen by many as unthinkable because of the political damage it could inflict on Democrats.
It is rare for a member of a president's own party to administer a fatal blow to their paramount legislative objective. Manchin's decision called to mind the famous thumbs-down vote by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that killed President Donald Trump's 2017 effort to repeal the health care law enacted under President Barack Obama.
Manchin's comments, as Congress was on a holiday recess, drew fury from Democratic colleagues he already has enraged and frustrated for months. Other problems have arisen, caused by another moderate Democrat, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and bickering between progressives and centrists, but none has approached the magnitude of Manchin's stands.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a written statement that if Manchin wants to oppose the legislation, "He should have the opportunity to do so with a floor vote as soon as the Senate returns." Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, a leader of House progressives, said Manchin can no longer say "he is a man of his word."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said it would be "extremely disappointing" to abandon top priorities but that a package helping families, containing health care costs and creating clean energy jobs "would go a long way toward addressing our challenges."
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., reiterated moderates' desire to see the bill refocused on fewer programs. "Failure is not an option," she said.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, had spent weeks trying to turn Manchin against the bill by saying it was too expensive. "I very much appreciate" Manchin's opposition, Graham said.
Manchin said he was opposing the 10-year, roughly $2 trillion bill because of his concerns about inflation, growing federal debt and a need to focus on the omicron COVID-19 variant. He accused Democrats in a written statement later of trying to "dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face," seemingly delineating an ideological gap between himself and his party.
He also wants the bill's initiatives to last the measure's full 10-year duration. Democrats made many of them temporary to limit the bill's cost, which Manchin says is misleading.
The bill's extension of enhanced child tax credit benefits, including monthly checks to millions of families, would only be extended one year. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected the credit's full 10-year cost at $1.6 trillion, nearly the size of the entire package Manchin says he'd accept. To fit, any compromise would likely have to reduce the tax credit's benefits and deeply cut many other proposals.
Democrats dismiss Manchin's assertions that the bill would fuel inflation and worsen budget deficits.
They say its annual spending would be a tiny percentage of the country's $23 trillion economy and have little impact on prices. Its job training, education and other initiatives would spur economic growth and curb inflation long-term, they say.
Democrats note that CBO estimated the bill's savings would leave it adding $200 billion to federal deficits over the coming decade, small compared to the $12 trillion in red ink already projected.
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Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Wilmington, Delaware, and AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
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The liberals will try to have Manchin's head on a pike.
The Progressive Liberal Caucus will be especially vitriolic in regards to him.
Someone here put it succinctly the other day--something to the effect that "pigs get slaughtered", and they were piggish in wanting it all at once, hoping to transform America.
They should have tried negotiating honestly with Manchin from the start.
Looks like Biden's big signature legislation is dead in the water now, and the remarks coming from the White House and leading Democrats are unlikely to change that.
So, what will Democrats run on in 2022?
Surely they can't run on the bipartisan real infrastructure bill that the PLC had to be dragged to vote for to begin with.
Perhaps they can point to the successes of the President's Covid policies and the remarkable declines in hospitalizations or perhaps the fantastically low rates of inflation we are experiencing now.
Perhaps tout the successes of their law and order policies which have resulted in such remarkable murder rates in many large Democratic-run cities.
Or how about those wildly popular bail policies?
What WILL they run on, and even more importantly, will anyone give a damn?
Thank God for Manchin and Sinema. His stand takes some pressure off of her. I don’t see either voting for a bill until the leaders of the democrat party actually listens to them and creates a bill largely designed by them. Democrats it seems would rather have nothing rather than listen to them or craft a bi partisan bill many in the GOP could support
The bill is essentially dead, IMO.
The Progressive Caucus will not give an inch more and feel as if Pelosi screwed them. And they would be right. Pelosi let pass a bill she KNEW would never pass the Senate as is.
Manchin's stance has been known since the summer.
Democrats should stop acting shocked he shot the bill down as written.
Yes, the Congress will have to start over from scratch next session... that includes the house part of it... The Progressive wing is probably crapping their pants in joy...
I will venture that any rewriting of the bill will include large amounts of pork for the liberal causes. And a healthy serving of deficit spending.
And the same resistance to it by sane individuals.
They do like their fatback don't they, problem is there is no momma to make them eat their grits as well...
Busted Back Better
Senator Manchin has stopped Biden and the Democrat’s “Build Back Better” Scheme to destroy America. Political cartoon by A.F. Branco…
Read More »One of the funniest things is that the BBB couldn't be passed before Christmas now even if Manchin and Sinema voted yes on it.
Senators Booker and Warren have tested positive for Covid and would be unable to vote.
Funny? You think that's funny? That's fucked up!
That is what you read, correct? Why the doubt?
Yes. I. Do.
Hope that remove any and all doubt.
About half the country doesn't seem to think so.
I don't believe half of America is so inclined...
Decent people don't find it funny Democratic members of Congress are getting Covid-19...
You clearly misunderstood me.
Let me explain:
The funny part is Democrats bitching about Manchin when in reality the deal couldn't have got done before Christmas because of the two Senators being unable to vote.
I am sorry they have tested positive. I hope them a speedy recovery and am glad they were vaccinated so their symptoms appear mild.
Manchin is corrupt and a DINO.
It's obvious that Texan doesn't find somebody contracting Corona funny. But somehow that's what you read.
I'm sure they would have found a way to circumvent the system.