Manchin says he won’t vote for Build Back Better Act

CNN

By Daniella Diaz, CNN

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he’s a no on the Build Back Better Act, a huge development for legislation where Democrats need his vote to be able to pass this through the Senate.

Manchin has always been a key holdout for the legislation, sharing concerns over certain provisions in the economic bill that would expand the nation’s social safety net and how it may exacerbate soaring inflation in the country.

“And I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do. And the President has worked diligently. He’s been wonderful to work with. He knows I’ve had concerns and the problems I’ve had and, you know, the thing that we should all be directing our attention towards the variant, a Covid that we have coming back at us in so many different aspects in different ways, it’s affecting our lives again.”

Manchin’s support for the bill — a $1.9 trillion spending plan focused on expanding the nation’s social safety net, reducing Americans’ childcare and health care costs, and climate change — is necessary for Democrats to pass this legislation using a process called budget reconciliation, meaning it would only need 51 votes to pass.

Progressive independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont harshly criticized Manchin for revoking his support, saying, “I think he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia” and calling on Democrats to put the bill to a floor vote to pressure Manchin into voting no on the record.

“I hope that we will bring a strong bill to the floor of the Senate as soon as we can and let Mr. Manchin explain to the people of West Virginia why he doesn’t have the guts to stand up to the powerful special interests,” Sanders told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday.

“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,” Sanders added.

A source familiar with Manchin’s plan told CNN that he did relay his decision to the White House and Democratic leadership before he made his announcement.

A person familiar with the talks said it was clear Manchin was headed in this direction as Biden privately told aides this week that he was no longer confident he could ultimately get the West Virginia Democrat on board. But White House officials were surprised when Manchin informed them Sunday morning that he had already arrived at a final decision.

Their reaction was not positive, according to the source. One senior administration official told CNN it was “totally a surprise.” Manchin informed the White House that they were the first to know and that he had not told even his staff yet.

Manchin had previously raised multiple concerns about the legislation, which passed the Democrat-controlled House last month. He wanted to pare down the bill in several areas, including paid family leave, a methane fee on emissions from energy producers and a Medicare expansion to cover hearing costs. He was also seeking changes to some of the provisions in the tax portion of the bill.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Bernie Sanders’ political affiliation.

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CNN’s Lauren Fox, Chandelis Duster, Aaron Pellish, Sarah Fortinsky, Kaitlin Collins and John Harwood contributed to this report.