Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is calling out President Biden’s White House staff for leaking “absolutely inexcusable” things about him in the aftermath of his Fox News interview in which he came out against the Build Back Better bill.
Manchin wasn’t blaming Biden himself for the animosity. But the senator said that Biden knew that the negotiations were failing, and his refusal to support the bill should not have come as much of a surprise.
The senator said he could have supported the bill if it was smaller and did more to lower prescription drug costs. He also had some other objections that the “soak the rich” president didn’t want to address.
New York Post:
He specifically said he wanted a work requirement and a new $200,000 income cap as a condition of extending an enhanced annual child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000 per child — or $3,600 for those under six.
Manchin said he also wanted to ensure that the bill’s $12,500 rebates for the purchase of electric vehicles didn’t go to wealthy people.
The senator previously griped that his own relatively poor state set up universal preschool, which the act would have done nationwide, without federal aid. He also opposed a provision that would have federally subsidized four weeks of paid private-sector family leave.
Manchin’s final offer, which appeared in the Washington Post on Tuesday, should have many Democrats who aren’t named Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez shaking their heads.
Washington Post:
Sen. Joe Manchin III last week made the White House a concrete counteroffer for its spending bill, saying he would accept a $1.8 trillion package that included universal prekindergarten for 10 years, an expansion of Obamacare and hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change, three people familiar with the matter said.
But the West Virginia Democrat’s counteroffer excluded an extension of the expanded child tax credit the administration has seen as a cornerstone of President Biden’s economic legacy, the people said, an omission difficult for the White House to accept in the high-stakes negotiations. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door deliberations.
It isn’t that Manchin wasn’t accepting the child tax credit. He just didn’t think it should go to people making $200,000 a year or more and that there should be a work requirement — something Biden was insisting wasn’t necessary.
Related: Is Biden’s Build Back Better Plan ‘Dead Forever’?
Unfortunately for Manchin, he has no allies in the Democratic Party who would stand with him against some of this insanity. And Republicans are tiptoeing around Manchin, hoping he makes the jump to the GOP but not trying to make it appear as if they’re encouraging him.
This means it’s open season on Joe Manchin for the radicals.
Later in the interview, Manchin slammed fellow Democrats and activist groups who tried to “beat the living crap” out of him to win his support for the bill.
“They figured, ‘Surely to God we can move one person. Surely we can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough they will just say, “OK I’ll vote for anything, just quit.”‘ Well guess what?,” Manchin said. “I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from and they can beat the living crap out of people and think they will be submissive.”
West Virginia is lucky to have him.
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