WASHINGTON — Senator Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat, said Sunday he could not support President Biden’s signature $2.2 trillion social safety net, climate and tax bill, but his party’s push to pass the measure as written. to approve, damned.
“I cannot vote to go ahead with this piece of legislation,” Mr Manchin said on Fox News Sunday, citing concerns about adding to the national debt. “I have tried everything that is humanly possible. I can’t get there. This is a no.”
The comments from Mr. Manchin, a crucial Democratic mainstay, were the final, perhaps deadly blow to the centerpiece of Mr Biden’s domestic agenda. With Republicans united in opposing the legislation, Democrats had to secure the vote of every senator in their party to pass the measure through an evenly divided Senate.
For months, Mr. Manchin had huddled privately with Mr. Biden and his top officials in an effort to negotiate a compromise that the West Virginia Democrat could support. His objections forced the White House to significantly curtail the package’s scope and scrap certain programs, including establishing a clean electricity program and a plan to ban new oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
As early as last week, even as Mr Biden confirmed efforts to pass the legislation had stalled, he became optimistic, saying talks with Mr Manchin would continue and that he believed “we will bridge our differences.” and Plan the Build Back Better.”
The Senate left before the holidays this week without finalizing work on the expanded package, pledging to resume work once senators met again in early January. But Mr Manchin appeared to close the door to further substantive discussions on Sunday, complaining that his colleagues had spent months using tricks to make the legislation seem less expensive rather than actually cut it.
“They’re just trying to match time with money or money with time,” Mr. Manchin said. “Don’t change our approach, don’t focus on things we should be doing.”
His comments are sure to infuriate his Democratic colleagues, who had hoped to pass the legislation before the end of the year. It remains to be seen whether they will respond by substantially amending the bill in hopes of salvaging something that can be passed.
“I think he’s going to have a lot of explaining to the people of West Virginia,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent Vermont who heads the Senate Budget Committee, calling for a Senate floor vote on the legislation, despite that. mr. Manchin’s comments.
“We’ve been dealing with Mr. Manchin month after month after month,” he added, speaking on DailyExpertNews’s “State of the Union.” “But 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.”
Chris Cameron reporting contributed.