Biden responds after Manchin deals blow to Build Back Better Act

Update (Dec. 21, 2021): Two days after Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he couldn’t vote for the Build Back Better Act, President Joe Biden made his first public comments on the matter Tuesday. President Biden joked that he holds no grudges against Sen. Manchin, and that the two “are going to get something done.”

“I want to get things done,” Biden said. “I still think there’s a possibility of getting Build Back Better done.”

Biden also talked about the families that would benefit from the bill, and said it would help ease inflation. On the Senate side, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was set to assemble Senate Democrats later Tuesday for a private virtual caucus meeting to discuss next steps.

Original Story (Dec. 20, 2021): Just days ahead of a Christmas deadline Democratic leaders had set to pass the Build Back Better Act, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) may have effectively killed the bill over the weekend. In a television interview, Sen. Manchin said he “cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation.” Build Back Better is a reconciliation bill, which means it only needs a majority of Senate support to pass. However, in an evenly split Senate, Democrats need every members’ support.

“I had my reservations from the beginning when I heard about it five and a half months ago, and I’ve been working diligently every day, and every minute of every day I’ve been working on this,” Manchin said in the interview. “I’ve done everything humanly possible.”

Manchin went on to say he had concerns regarding inflation, the nation’s current debt load, geopolitical unrest, COVID-19 and the Omicron variant. Because of these concerns, Manchin said he “can’t go home and explain [Build Back Better] to the people of West Virginia.”

Hours after the Manchin interview, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki released a statement. She called Manchin’s announcement “a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position” on Build Back Better, “and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”

“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 said in the statement. “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.”

White House officials are now reimagining a scaled-back version of Build Back Better that they hope can win Manchin’s approval. In a letter to colleagues Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) vowed to vote on Build Back Better early next year, “so that every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television.”