WASHINGTON: A Democratic Senator elected by less than 300,000 voters from one America’s least populous and least developed states has torpedoed President Biden’s ambitious Build Back Better legislation, embarrassed his own party, and stoked anger among liberals and progressives in a devastating blow to the the Democratic party’s agenda and prospects for the mid-term elections.
Senator Joe Manchin, who is a Democrat only notionally in a ruby red Republican state of West Virginia, joined the Omicron variant of the virus on Monday in delivering a one-two punch to the market and to Democratic plans surcharge the economy after he broke ranks to kill Biden’s landmark legislation in a Senate that is tied at 50-50. It would have required every single Democratic vote and the vice-president’s tie-breaker to pass a bill that has already cleared the Democrat-majority House, but Manchin stunned Washington on Sunday by going on Fox News and declaring he would not vote for it.
An angry White House unloaded a 714-word statement on the perceived betrayal, casting Manchin as a duplicitous liar, because he had reportedly agreed to back the President after changes he sought to the legislation had been incorporated. Biden had spent days and weeks trying to win him over, to the extent that vice-president Kamala Harris was asked in a radio interview last week who was the real PotUS: Joe Biden or Joe Manchin.
The legislation Manchin torpedoed by aligning with Republican objections included far reaching proposals on child tax credit, healthcare and climate change, and it was expected to help the poor and boost the Dems prospects in upcoming midterm polls. “Maybe Senator 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 — we cannot,” the White House statement asked sharply. Even though the legislation died before his eyes, Biden himself tweeted, “Right now, there’s a kid out there whose family can’t afford her insulin because it costs $1,000 per month. The Build Back Better Act would cap their monthly insulin costs at $35. I’m committed as ever to getting it done for them.”
Democratic Party progressives reacted with fury. “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….Joe Manchin sold out the people of West Virginia to Mitch McConnell, corporations, and the wealthy,” Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said in a direct attack on a Senator whom the left accuses of being a closet Republican.
Others are calling for structural change in the American political system, pointing to quirks that enable Senators from thinly populated states elected by less than half a million people hold to ransom a President elected by 81 million people. Aside from Manchin’s internal subversion of the party agenda, a Republican Senator has for months put a hold on dozens of Biden’s diplomatic nominees, including the ambassador-designate to India, who are awaiting confirmation.
Senator Joe Manchin, who is a Democrat only notionally in a ruby red Republican state of West Virginia, joined the Omicron variant of the virus on Monday in delivering a one-two punch to the market and to Democratic plans surcharge the economy after he broke ranks to kill Biden’s landmark legislation in a Senate that is tied at 50-50. It would have required every single Democratic vote and the vice-president’s tie-breaker to pass a bill that has already cleared the Democrat-majority House, but Manchin stunned Washington on Sunday by going on Fox News and declaring he would not vote for it.
An angry White House unloaded a 714-word statement on the perceived betrayal, casting Manchin as a duplicitous liar, because he had reportedly agreed to back the President after changes he sought to the legislation had been incorporated. Biden had spent days and weeks trying to win him over, to the extent that vice-president Kamala Harris was asked in a radio interview last week who was the real PotUS: Joe Biden or Joe Manchin.
The legislation Manchin torpedoed by aligning with Republican objections included far reaching proposals on child tax credit, healthcare and climate change, and it was expected to help the poor and boost the Dems prospects in upcoming midterm polls. “Maybe Senator 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 — we cannot,” the White House statement asked sharply. Even though the legislation died before his eyes, Biden himself tweeted, “Right now, there’s a kid out there whose family can’t afford her insulin because it costs $1,000 per month. The Build Back Better Act would cap their monthly insulin costs at $35. I’m committed as ever to getting it done for them.”
Democratic Party progressives reacted with fury. “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….Joe Manchin sold out the people of West Virginia to Mitch McConnell, corporations, and the wealthy,” Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said in a direct attack on a Senator whom the left accuses of being a closet Republican.
Others are calling for structural change in the American political system, pointing to quirks that enable Senators from thinly populated states elected by less than half a million people hold to ransom a President elected by 81 million people. Aside from Manchin’s internal subversion of the party agenda, a Republican Senator has for months put a hold on dozens of Biden’s diplomatic nominees, including the ambassador-designate to India, who are awaiting confirmation.