Appearing this morning on Fox News Sunday, Sen. Joe “President” Manchin says he cannot back the Biden Build Back Better plan as it stands today in the Senate. Manchin has tried everything, he says, to get to a place where he could vote for it and come to some compromises with progressive Democrats. Instead, the BBB agenda will sit dead in the water without enough support to pass the Senate and make it to President Biden’s desk.
This move will further engage the “who’s the real president” crowd currently irritated that Manchin seems to be the biggest hurdle to Biden’s social spending agenda.
Here’s Manchin’s declaration this morning on FNS with Bret Baier:
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation.” — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says President Biden’s Build Back Better plan “is a no.”
“I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there.” pic.twitter.com/HsgXgYms3e
— The Recount (@therecount) December 19, 2021
That essentially puts this agenda on the shelf permanently. As noted days ago, once Democrats decided to punt this into 2022, it was basically game over as months of negotiations amounted to nothing. Once the election year starts, the stakes are even higher.
As Manchin also notes, the federal government has already spent $5.4 trillion in Covid-19 aid and stimulus money:
To overcome unanimous GOP opposition to the package, all 50 Senate Democrats need to coalesce behind the plan so it passes the 50-50 chamber. The conservative Democrat’s opposition effectively pulls the plug on the sprawling social and climate legislation.
Manchin has cited a range of reasons for Democrats to not forge ahead with their ambitious package since the summer, urging a “strategic pause” since August. But inflation is at the top of his list.
“We’ve done everything that we can to help people,” Manchin told Insider earlier this month, referring to $5.4 trillion in emergency federal spending that Congress authorized to combat the pandemic.
The biggest issue with the Build Back Better legislation is how much extra garbage is crammed into it. From climate change to universal preschool, so much of it exists solely to alter the economy and create massive new entitlements. The government can’t pay for the entitlements it’s offering now, it would be foolish and reckless to add a few more trillion on top and expect it all to work out.
Looks like Charlamagne The God is more correct than he knew at the time when he asked Vice President Kamala Harris who the “real president” is:
Harris aide tries to cutting off VP's interview with Charlamagne Tha God after he asked her if Joe Biden or Joe Manchin is president pic.twitter.com/Onw9UyknCG
— Majority Report (@majorityfm) December 18, 2021
Harris is clearly mistaken. Manchin is running the entire legislative agenda, Biden is just a sideshow and footnote.
Sen. Bernie Sanders was also on the record this morning losing his patience with Manchin:
Progressives expressed outrage on Sunday. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said that the legislation should still be brought to the Senate floor anyway.
“Let Mr. Manchin explain to the people of West Virginia why he doesn’t have the guts to stand up to the powerful special interests,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Reading the tea leaves will tell you that Manchin and other moderates like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema are being set up as the scapegoats when Democrats go down hard next year. Progressives will scream that Democrats never actually got to pass anything meaningful because people like Manchin got in the way so how can they expect voters to give them another chance?
In the end, Manchin is probably saving Democrats from having to explain their vote on this garbage to voters in swing districts and elsewhere. The decision was basically made in the House to go on a kamikaze mission to pass this steaming pile of progressive tripe and go big while the party is likely to lose control of the House next year anyway. Now those Democratic House members who voted for it don’t even have a legislative victory to show for their vote.
The gamble had always been for progressives to cram it through the House and assume that Manchin will be forced to sign on so he’s not the only Democrat standing in the way. That gamble went down in flames this week as Manchin stood firm and just pounded the last nail in the Build Back Better coffin this morning with his statement that the current legislation is dead.
