Moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia angered his party’s far-left factions when he announced last month that he could not support President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation.
The social and climate spending measure would have cost at least $2 trillion by some estimates, leading Manchin to reject it over concerns that another massive injection of freshly printed money would only worsen already historically high inflation.
Reports noted that Manchin was being inundated with pleas from top Democrats including Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to sign on to the measure, as was Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), because their votes would be needed to pass the measure via the reconciliation process in the evenly-divided chamber.
And while some held out hope that he could still be persuaded to agree to a slightly less expensive bill, those hopes appear to now have been dashed as well, according to the Washington Post:
The week before Christmas, Sen. Joe Manchin III sent the White House a $1.8 trillion counteroffer to President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda that included substantial funds for climate, health-care and education initiatives.
About four weeks later, the West Virginia Democrat has made clear that he does not currently support advancing even that offer following a breakdown in negotiations between Manchin and the White House right before Christmas, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
Manchin said publicly this week that he was no longer involved in talks with the White House over the economic package. Privately, he has also made clear that he is not interested in approving legislation resembling Biden’s Build Back Better package and that Democrats should fundamentally rethink their approach. Senior Democrats say they do not believe Manchin would support his offer even if the White House tried adopting it in full — at least not at the moment — following the fallout in mid-December.
Part of the problem, at least for the White House, is that of a self-inflicted wound.
The Post reported that shortly after Manchin announced he couldn’t support the legislation, the White House released a statement laying the blame on him.
“Manchin then surprised the administration by criticizing the bill on Fox News, after which the White House released a blistering statement calling his credibility into question,” the paper reported on Saturday.
“Manchin, who has drawn protesters’ ire because of his opposition to the legislation, later said the decision to name him in the news release imperiled the safety of his family,” the Post added.
The fate of the legislation remains uncertain, however, after Democratic leaders pivoted away from Build Back Better to a voting reform bill that wipes out most ballot integrity laws passed by states and, according to GOP opponents, federalizes nearly all elections.
That has confused several Democratic operatives who note that ‘BBB’ represents the most significant domestic spending measure in decades.
“A $1.8 trillion package along the lines of what Manchin offered last month would be one of the most transformative, progressive pieces of legislation in modern history,” said Ben Ritz, a budget expert at the Progressive Policy Institute, a D.C. think tank, the Post reported. “The White House should absolutely take it if they can.”
That said, the administration isn’t clear that Manchin would even support the bill, or in what capacity:
In addition to excluding the expanded child tax credit, a centerpiece of Biden’s anti-poverty agenda, Manchin’s offer included no funding for housing and no funding for racial equity initiatives, two people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to reveal details of the private negotiations. Numerous congressional Democrats have had other demands for the package, such as an expansion of Medicare benefits for seniors and a repeal of the deduction of a cap on state and local taxes.
Additionally, Manchin’s offer included proposed tax hikes that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) had already ruled out, people familiar with the matter said.
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