NEW YORK (MONITORING DESK): Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced on “Fox News Sunday” that he will not vote for President Biden’s “mammoth” climate and social spending bill, essentially killing the White House’s top legislative priority.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation, I just can’t. I tried everything humanly possible, I can’t get there” he told guest host Bret Baier. “You’re done – this is a no,” Baier said.
“This is a no on this legislation,” Manchin responded. “I have tried everything I know to do,” he said, closing the door on Democratic hopes that he might be persuaded to change his mind.
He said he had worked “diligently” on the bill, meeting with Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other colleagues to find a way forward, but said he remains extremely concerned about inflation, the $29 trillion federal debt and a surge in new infections caused by the omicron COVID-19 variant.
“When you have these things coming at you the way they are right now, I’ve always said this, Bret, if I can’t go home to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it,” he said.
Manchin said Biden knew that he had serious concerns about how the 2,000-plus page bill was shaping up.
“He knows that I’ve had concerns and the problems I’ve had,” he said. “The thing we should all be directing our attention towards is the variant of COVID we have coming back at us in so many different aspects and different ways. It’s affecting our lives again.” Manchin also warned that rising inflation could “really harm a lot of Americans,” especially lower-income or impoverished Americans.
“So I think that’s where our attention needs to be directed toward immediately,” he said. Manchin’s definitive statement of opposition against the bill comes as a surprise to fellow Senate Democrats who expected that talks between the West Virginia centrist and Biden would continue this week.
Biden in a statement last week said that Manchin had “reiterated his support” for spending $1.75 trillion on the Build Back Better bill, pledging “we will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead.” But Manchin distanced himself from that optimistic statement at the end of last week, telling reporters it was Biden’s and not his.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who on Friday told The Hill that he thought Manchin could be convinced to support the legislation, on Sunday said he wants to force his colleague to vote against it. “We’ve been dealing with Mr. Manchin for month after month after month. But if he doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of West Virginia and America, let him vote no in front of the whole world,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
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