WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is continuing his efforts to get U.S. Senator Joe Manchin on board with his Build Back Better legislation.
Biden spoke on the phone December 13 with Manchin (D-W.Va.) for the second time in a week about the spending and climate bill. Biden and other Democratic leaders are hoping to get the bill passed before Christmas.
After the discussion, Manchin told Capitol Hill reporters he and Biden had “a nice conversation” about “different iterations” of the plan.
His office issued a statement calling the conversation “productive” and said, “They will continue to talk over the coming days.” The White House called the phone call “constructive.”
Earlier in the day, Manchin said his fellow Democrats need to find ways to reduce costs in the bill by choosing priorities. Manchin also was asked about two government reports that came out last week, one showing inflation rising at an annual rate of 6.8 percent and another that said the Build Back Better legislation would add an extra $3 trillion to the federal deficit if all of the programs included in the bill became permanent.
Manchin said the rising inflation rate, which is the highest in 39 years, is “alarming.”
“Inflation is real,” he told reporters. “It's not transitory. It's alarming. It's going up, not down. I think that should be something we are concerned about."
Manchin, a moderate, also called the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office report “very sobering,” again stressing he is “very concerned” about the cost.
He said the bill should be “within the limits” of “what we can afford” and said the temporary programs in the bill should be extended for 10 years to be “transparent” about the actual costs of the legislation.
“I don't think that's a fair evaluation of saying we are going to spend X amount of dollars but then we are going to have to depend on coming back and finding more money,” Manchin told the reporters. “I'm concerned about paying down debt, too. …
“CBO’s not a Republican or Democrat ... they’re nonpartisan and they’re going to give to us the way the facts [are] whether we like it or not. … You might as well look at the whole ball of wax, if you will.”
Manchin has said he wants to remove some parts of legislation, such as a new program requiring paid family and medical leave for workers. He also wants to eliminate a methane fee on emissions from energy producers and a Medicare expansion to cover hearing costs. He is wants to alter some parts of the tax section of the bill.
Manchin’s vote is the one that mostly likely could make the bill sink or swim. If he supports it, the vote likely would be 50-50, and Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote.
Republicans argue the cost of the legislation would add fuel to the inflation fire.
“There’s nothing temporary about an inflation crisis that surpasses record highs month after month,” Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said in press release. “But, here we are again seeing more record inflation numbers. Thanks to inflation, costs are rapidly rising on everything from a gallon of gas to a gallon of milk. It’s hurting West Virginians, and it’s hurting families across this country.
“Yet, even with these big red flags, the Biden administration and my Democrat colleagues would rather spend trillions more on liberal wish list items with money we don’t have instead of getting the problem under control.”
A poll released December 13 said 64 percent of West Virginians think Biden’s Build Back Better Act will make inflation worse, and 66 percent say they think Congress should slow down or reconsider the bill as inflation increases. Only 14 percent said they think the bill would improve the inflation crisis.
Capito also tied inflation to the Biden legislative package.
“And, they want to enact the largest tax hike in decades,” she said. “These efforts will hit American families with higher prices and greater tax burdens when they can least afford it. There would never be a good time to pass the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spending spree, but these inflation numbers indicate that now is the absolute worst time for Democrats to do just that.”
The House passed its version of the legislation last month. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he wants to reach final compromises with Manchin and other Democrats on unresolved issues and push the package through the Senate by Christmas.
One reason for that time is because, if the bill isn’t passed by December 28, the IRS won’t have time to prepare checks due Jan. 15 to millions of families that receive the child tax credit.