Sen. Joe Manchin says he won’t support Biden’s Build Back Better social spending bill
Sen. Joe Manchin said he won’t support President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, a potentially fatal blow to the president’s signature domestic policy bill that aims to expand the social safety net and tackle climate change.
The West Virginia Democrat, who has been negotiating with the White House, told “Fox News Sunday” that he is a no vote on the legislation.
“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 said. “This is a no.”
Manchin’s declaration likely stops the measure from becoming law because the bill requires the support of every Democrat in the Senate to move forward.
While Manchin has expressed resistance to supporting the plan in the past, Sunday’s announcement was his most decisive yet and follows months of back-and-forth with the White House on a compromise to the roughly $2 trillion measure.
The Build Back Better Act narrowly passed the House last month over the unanimous opposition of Republicans. The legislation includes a number of progressive priorities, such as free preschool, major climate change initiatives and extending the child tax credit.
Manchin has continually raised concerns about more government spending, saying they were unaffordable and not targeted enough to needy Americans. He’s also objected climate provisions in the bill that would hurt the fossil fuels industry in his state.
Biden acknowledged Thursday that his sweeping social spending and climate policy legislation was unlikely to pass before the end of the year.
But he expressed confidence that differences with Manchin could be bridged.
“We will – we must – get Build Back Better passed, even in the face of Republican opposition,” he said.
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House progressives, who only agreed to vote for an infrastructure package with Biden’s assurance that the Senate would also approve Build Back Better, had said senators should not go home for the holidays until it’s done.
The Senate adjourned in the wee hours of Saturday.
Contributing: Rebecca Morin, Maureen Groppe