WASHINGTON –Joe Manchin’s hesitation to support President Biden’s Build Back Better Act continues to draw attention to West Virginia’s Democratic senator.
While Manchin still isn’t talking much publicly about the legislation, Washington insiders suggest the moderate senator’s latest sticking point with the social and environmental package is the continuation of the expanded Child Tax Credit program that passed earlier this year as part of pandemic relief legislation.
Manchin might be feeling pressure from some people in West Virginia who want those payments to continue. For the payments sent out December 15 by the U.S. Treasury, an average payment of $446 for 181,000 families was sent out, affecting 305,000 West Virginia children.
But, Manchin also is Democratic senator for a state that only gave Biden 29 percent of its votes last year. Still, Manchin told Capitol Hill reporters December 15 the idea that he wanted to strip the child tax credit was “a lot of bad rumors.”
Manchin has said he has concerns about spending and inflation.
Despite negotiations with Biden and others, a December 17 analysis piece by The Associated Press about Manchin says he is no closer to voting yes than he was months ago.
“In an extraordinary display of political power in the evenly split 50-50 Senate, a single senator is about to seriously set back an entire presidential agenda,” the AP story says, adding that some fellow Democrats have “grown weary” of Manchin.
“We’re frustrated and disappointed,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the majority whip, said in the AP report.
“Very frustrated,” an anonymous Democratic senator said.
The AP story also calls Manchin “an uneven negotiator,” saying he has been “bending norms and straining relationships because he says one thing one day and another the next, adjusting his positions, demands and rationale along the way.”
The AP analysis also suggests fellow Democrats are worried Manchin could switch parties, but those rumors have trailed Manchin for at least a decade.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed.
“As you know, he likes to talk,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said of Manchin. “It would not surprise you to know that I’ve suggested for years it would be a great idea, representing a deep-red state like West Virginia, for him to come over to our side.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
The AP analysis also mentions Manchin’s time in the spotlight.
“The senator appears to both relish and despise all the attention he has commanded over many months at Biden's home in Delaware with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in regular visits with Biden at the White House and in his daily strolls through the Capitol, where he banters amiably, swats back questions or simply clams up – which becomes a statement of its own, leaving Manchin-whisperers to wonder what his silence means,” the AP story says. “But between his endless hallway utterances is a consistent through-line in Manchin’s months-long commentary about what he wants in — and out — of Biden’s big package before giving his vote.
“The short version is he’s not quite there yet.”
The story also details what Manchin has accomplished so far on the Build Back Better bill. That includes having Biden cut the official price tag of the legislation in half to $1.75 trillion, making sure the corporate tax rate doesn’t go up as far as first planned and getting a renewable energy standard tabled.
On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Biden has asked for more time to continue talks about the legislation, meaning his plan to pass the bill by Christmas is unlikely.