President Joe Biden faces the unexpected task of quickly rewriting his policy agenda in a crucial election year after a key Senate Democrat abruptly rejected his signature $1.75 trillion economic plan.
Senator Joe Manchin stunned the White House and fellow Democrats Sunday by announcing his opposition to a tax-and-spending package tailored to win his support after months of courtship by Biden and other administration officials. The move effectively torpedoes Biden’s campaign promises to address climate change, health-care costs and child-care needs.
Losing support from Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia, is essentially fatal in a 50-50 Senate where Republicans uniformly oppose the plan, known as Build Back Better. Biden and top congressional Democrats must now regroup at once on those priorities, with little more than 10 months before midterm races that will decide control of Congress.
Majority Leader Charles Schumer said Monday in a letter to fellow Senate Democrats the chamber still would hold a vote “very early” in 2022 on the measure “so that every member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor.” Such a vote would be symbolic unless they reach a deal with Machin on a smaller version of the bill first.
Failure to deliver on the legislation risks sending ripples through a U.S. economy still recovering from the pandemic. Biden had lately portrayed it as an inflation-fighting measure, and Goldman Sachs lowered its estimates for U.S. economic output next year after Manchin’s move.
While a scaled-back version of the economic package remains possible, its collapse right before the holidays nonetheless marks a bruising defeat for the president, who has long touted his legislative acumen honed over 36 years as a senator. He regularly scoffed at concerns he couldn’t thread the needle to pass a sprawling social bill through a razor-thin Congress, where any one senator essentially held a veto.
And the timing could hardly be worse for an administration facing another resurgence of the pandemic and national unease over the new omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Manchin’s decision, which he announced publicly on Fox News Sunday, blindsided the White House, Biden aides said. It also unleashed a torrent of outrage and finger-pointing from Democrats. Several White House officials expressed frustration with Manchin; one said the failure hurt all Democrats but that Manchin’s move wasn’t entirely unexpected after months of talks with little progress.
They asked not to be identified criticizing the senator.
‘Inexplicable Reversal’
In a sharp statement marking an abrupt shift in tone after months of deference to Manchin, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said his comments 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 said Manchin had presented Biden a written counter-offer on Tuesday similar in scope to Biden’s plan. A person familiar with Manchin’s outline said it carried a price tag of $1.8 trillion over 10 years. Spokespeople for Manchin didn’t respond to questions about the proposal.