Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) swiftly joined those speaking out against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) this weekend after he announced during an appearance on Fox that he was a “no” on the Build Back Better Act. His announcement sent the legislation’s future into a nearly inescapable tailspin — because of the current party breakdown in the Senate, Democratic leaders could not afford to lose a single vote. The Build Back Better Act, as proposed and already passed by the House, would (if enacted) provide significant tranches of federal financial support for efforts ranging from fighting climate change to improving health care access.
Manchin is Manchin. But what kind of healthy democracy is structured in a way that can allow one man elected by 290,000 voters in one of the least populous states to thwart the agenda of his party and the President who was elected with 81 million votes. We need structural change.
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) December 19, 2021
Omar commented as follows:
‘Let’s be clear: Manchin’s excuse is bullshit. The people of West Virginia would directly benefit from childcare, pre-Medicare expansion, and long term care, just like Minnesotans. This is exactly what we warned would happen if we separated Build Back Better from infrastructure.’
Let’s be clear: Manchin’s excuse is bullshit. The people of West Virginia would directly benefit from childcare, pre-Medicare expansion, and long term care, just like Minnesotans.
This is exactly what we warned would happen if we separated Build Back Better from infrastructure. https://t.co/dhzcSk0qUV
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 19, 2021
What Omar referred to was a prior push from progressives in the House to keep the bipartisan infrastructure agreement and the Build Back Better Act proceeding in tandem, so that one couldn’t be passed without a sure path forward on the other. The House ended up passing the infrastructure bill essentially on its own, and that piece of legislation has since been signed into law by President Joe Biden. Now, Manchin’s excuses for going against the Build Back Better Act are wide-ranging, from concerns about inflation to claims that climate-related proposals in the bill would both essentially be redundant and push transitions to clean energy faster than would be secure.
Oof, Bernie on Manchin:
“I also find it amusing that Sen. Manchin indicates his worry about the deficit after voting just this week for a military budget of $778 billion, four times greater than Build Back Better over ten years and $25 billion more than the president requested.”
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) December 19, 2021
The White House itself released a statement tearing apart Manchin’s claims. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who was responsible for that statement, noted that, apparently within the last week, Manchin “came to the White House and submitted—to the President, in person, directly—a written outline for a Build Back Better bill that was the same size and scope as the President’s framework, and covered many of the same priorities.” Now, Psaki says, perhaps 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.” An extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit is included in the Build Back Better proposal. Notably, Psaki ended the statement by saying that the Biden administration would keep looking for a path forward for these policy proposals.
When a handful of us in the House warned this would happen if Dem leaders gave Manchin everything he wanted 1st by moving BIF before BBB instead of passing together, many ridiculed our position.
Maybe they’ll believe us next time. Or maybe people will just keep calling us naïve. https://t.co/TtKW6VOOCF
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 19, 2021
