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For: The Opinion
Saturday, November 2
Senator Joe Manchin puts the approval of Joe Biden's social spending in check
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin reported that after months of negotiations he has determined that there is no way he can support President Joe Biden’s huge social spending bill known as Build Back Better.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Manchin said that he has spoken with President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, but could not agree on the law .
“I have done everything humanly possible,” said Manchin, in relation to the dialogue he has held to reach an acceptable agreement on the bill. In the end, he said that between ongoing inflation, national debt, “geopolitical unrest” and the Covid pandemic – 19, the bill being pushed by Democrats represents too much.
Faced with the group’s refusal to support President Joe Biden’s bill MP for the Republicans, the only way to pass the budget to give certainty to the Build Back Better program would be through budget reconciliation, that is, a vote that only requires the support of the Democratic caucus.
With the refusal of Senator Joe Manchin, the approval of the social spending package will not be a reality, since according to the regulations of Congress it is necessary all the votes of the parliamentary group that seeks to pass a law through budget reconciliation.
In the In the interview, the Democrat said that because of how the bill is configured, he cannot vote in the same vein as his colleagues, since the budget for social spending is too high. In this sense , Joe Manchin has the same position as the Republicans on the issue.
Joe Manchin added to FOX that if he can’t explain to his constituents why he would vote for a bill, so he won’t be able to vote for it, despite all the work he and other Democrats have put into trying to make it work.
“This is a no,” he said. “I’ve tried everything I know how to do.”
Manchin acknowledged that there were aspects of the bill in which he was in favor, but still, The law is, according to him, too expensive for the government to justify its vote in favor.
“There are a lot of good things, but that bill is gigantic,” he said, noting that it is not even being voted on as a normal bill, instead is being pushed through budget reconciliation .
The senator said that instead of trying to pass a spending bill so large, Congress should focus more on addressing the Omicron variant of Covid – 19 than It has caused an increase in the number of cases. Also, he said that the government should address the inflation that has “hurt many Americans.”
“Inflation is real, it is not going to go away. soon, ”he said.
Manchin had previously proposed a budget of $ 1.7 trillion for the spending package, but said the other Democrats did not make the necessary commitments. He noted that both he and President Joe Biden worked hard to make it work.
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