(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden hasn’t given up on his roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better economic plan after Senator Joe Manchin rejected it on Sunday, and will continue pushing the West Virginia Democrat, his press secretary said.
“He’s no stranger to legislative challenges, so we’re going to continue to take steps, work like hell to get it done,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in a briefing on Monday.
Manchin dealt the president’s domestic agenda a blow over the weekend when he announced on Fox News Sunday that he wouldn’t support Build Back Better, squashing hopes for the president’s effort to address climate change, child care, health-care costs and other priorities.
Manchin initially described his opposition as ideological, saying negotiators hadn’t done enough to address his concern about long-term costs and making sure new social programs didn’t benefit the wealthy.
But there were also signals the move was personal. Manchin had an aide inform the White House only minutes before his appearance on a network widely reviled within the West Wing. And in a radio interview on Monday, the West Virginia senator suggested the fate of the bill was sealed by a dispute with some of the president’s staff.
‘Real Reason’
“They know the real reason what happened,” Manchin said, adding that his objection was not with the president. “It’s the staff. And they drove some things and they put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable. They know what it is.”
Psaki declined to discuss the relationship between Manchin and Biden or preview any conversations they might have. “We’re going to keep those private,” she said.
“I can’t speak for Senator Manchin on what has upset him, I’ll let him speak to that himself with more specifics if he chooses to, and he may or may not choose to and that’s his prerogative,” she said. “All I can convey is that we continue to focus on how we’re going to get this done.”
For a White House already reeling from a fresh wave of coronavirus infections threatening the nation’s health systems and economic recovery, Manchin’s defection on the bill hit particularly hard.
Manchin’s ‘Breach’
Psaki — who for months described the senator as operating in good faith — issued a blistering statement saying his about-face represented “a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”
She also said Manchin had presented the president with a written counter-offer of similar size and scope as recently as Tuesday. A person familiar with Manchin’s outline said it carried a price tag of $1.8 trillion over 10 years.
The Washington Post reported that it included expansions of pre-kindergarten and the Affordable Care Act and climate provisions similar to Biden’s, but would have discontinued an enlarged child tax credit the president frequently credits for slashing child poverty.
Psaki declined to confirm details of Manchin’s proposal.
Next Steps
The path forward for the White House remains unclear. While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said his chamber would vote early next year on the package regardless of Manchin’s announcement, the gambit is not expected to pay dividends beyond satisfying progressive lawmakers who have demanded Manchin be forced to officially record his opposition.
“What’s most on the president’s mind is the risk of inaction,” Psaki said. “And if we do not act to get this legislation done, and the components in it, not only will costs and prices go up for the American people, but also we see a trajectory of economic growth that is not where we want it to be.”
She noted that Goldman Sachs had revised downward its estimates of U.S. economic growth next year after Manchin’s announcement.
White House officials on Sunday indicated support for an effort by some House members to redraft the package hewing closer to Manchin’s preferences, with fewer programs fully funded over 10 years. But Manchin on Monday indicated he now wants any legislation to proceed through normal Senate order, meaning new spending would need support from at least 10 Republicans — an unlikely scenario.
Even before Manchin’s announcement, White House efforts to refocus Senate attention on issues where Democrats have agreement — including voting rights — appeared to languish as Manchin and other senators indicated they wouldn’t support significant changes to the upper chamber’s filibuster rules.
Republicans have used the filibuster to block straight up-or-down votes on many Democratic priorities, including expansions of ballot access.
(Updates with additional Psaki remarks beginning in eighth paragraph)
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