Sen. Joe Manchin’s revelation on “Fox News Sunday” that he will not vote for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan was news to the White House. According to a statement from White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Manchin expressed his commitment to support Biden’s BBB agenda weeks ago. In her statement, Psaki did not hold back.
“Senator Manchin claims that this change of position is related to inflation, but the think tank he often cites on Build Back Better—the Penn Wharton Budget Institute—issued a report less than 48 hours ago that noted the Build Back Better Act will have virtually no impact on inflation in the short term, and, in the long run, the policies it includes will ease inflationary pressures,” Psaki explains in her statement. “Many leading economists with whom Senator Manchin frequently consults also support Build Back Better.”
“Senator Manchin cited deficit concerns in his statement. But the plan is fully paid for, is the most fiscally responsible major bill that Congress has considered in years, and reduces the deficit in the long run,” the statement continues. “The Congressional Budget Office report that the Senator cites analyzed an unfunded extension of Build Back Better. That’s not what the President has proposed, not the bill the Senate would vote on, and not what the President would support. Senator Manchin knows that: The President has told him that repeatedly, including this week, face to face.”
The Biden administration is not giving up.
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“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,” Psaki writes.
She didn’t hold back.
“In the meantime, Senator Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that instead of $35 for that vital medicine. He will have to explain to the nearly two million women who would get the affordable daycare they need to return to work why he opposes a plan to get them the help they need,” the statement adds. “Maybe Senator Manchin can explain to the millions of children who have been lifted out of poverty, in part due to the Child Tax Credit, why he wants to end a program that is helping achieve this milestone—we cannot.”
I cannot explain it, either. Manchin has too much power, harming the President’s agenda and his poll numbers. The poverty rate in West Virginia is high. I’m not sure why Manchin doesn’t want to help his constituents.
You can read her full statement here.
Featured image via Ralph Alswang/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
