The White House on Sunday called Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to Democrats’ $1.75 trillion social spending plan a “sudden and inexplicable reversal of his position,” delivering a frank and scathing assessment of where the Biden administration thought they were in negotiations.
Manchin, who has been a consistent holdout on the Build Back Better Act, shocked the political world on Sunday morning when he said he definitely can’t vote for the bill. Even though they’re using the budget reconciliation process to try and pass it, they still need a simple majority in a split 50-50 Senate, and Democrats can’t achieve that without the West Virginia senator’s support.
Manchin was the main reason Democrats delayed passage of the bill in the Senate to 2022, but he had kept the door open to supporting it and engaged in frequent discussions with President Joe Biden throughout the past week. But during an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” the West Virginia senator effectively put an end to negotiations on the current social safety net package.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible,” Manchin told Fox News, citing his concerns with inflation and arguing the main focus should be on combating the new COVID-19 variant. “This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do. And the president has worked diligently. He’s been wonderful to work with.”
But the Biden White House sees things much differently and gave a 10-paragraph statement of the state of the recent Manchin talks and where they thought they were headed. Until Sunday, the White House was careful in how they characterized negotiations and repeatedly commended the senator for doing so “in good faith.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Manchin’s comments are “at odds” with what was discussed with Biden, noting the senator committed weeks ago to support the current $1.75 trillion framework of the legislation. And during a Tuesday visit to the White House, Psaki said Manchin gave the president an outline with the same price tag, though it excluded some party priorities. Even so, she said they thought it “could lead to a compromise acceptable to all.”
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“If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate,” Psaki said in the statement.
“Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, 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,” she added.
Manchin’s remarks are the latest but the most profound blow to the Build Back Better Act.
This past week, Democrats conceded that they couldn’t pass the bill in the Senate by their self-imposed Christmas deadline and would revisit it in 2022 – months before the midterm elections where their majorities in the House and Senate are at stake.
Manchin, however, wasn’t the only centrist Democrat who remained noncommittal to Build Back Better. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona hasn’t indicated whether she’ll vote for the legislation. Because no Republicans support the bill, Democrats are using budget reconciliation to lower the threshold from 60 to 51 votes to overcome filibuster threats and pass it. All 50 Democrats would need to vote for the social spending plan and Vice President Kamala Harris would break the tie.
While the White House vowed on Sunday to keep pressing Manchin and “find a way to move forward next year,” it’s unclear where the bill goes from here. As they enter the new year, Democrats will need to reassess and determine how to move forward on their biggest priorities, potentially in a much smaller way.
Progressives, who have pushed the Democratic Party to follow through on delivering the Build Back Better agenda, especially after passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill, lashed out at Manchin for his opposition. But some groups went much further to lay the blame at the feet of the entire party and its leaders for not pushing Manchin harder to invest in key programs related to climate, health, families and education.
“Let’s be clear: the death of BBB isn’t just Joe Manchin’s fault. The failure of BBB passing is also on Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer. They had a moral obligation to play hard ball with Joe Manchin, and chose not to,” said Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth climate change group Sunrise Movement. “Our leaders have failed us, and we will replace you.”
