On Tuesday, Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (WV) said that President Biden’s Build Back Better plan was “dead” when asked about the bill by CNN political correspondent Manu Raju.
According to Raju, Manchin initially replied, “What Build Back Better bill? I don’t know what you guys are talking about.” Raju then asked Manchin if he had any talks on the matter since December and Manchin answered, “No, no, no, no. It’s dead.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, asked about Build Back Better, said: “What Build Back Better bill? I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”
I asked him if he’s had any talks on the matter since December. “No, no, no, no. It’s dead.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 1, 2022
In December, Manchin said during a Fox News interview that he would be voting “no” on the Build Back Better bill, calling it a “mammoth piece of legislation” and explaining that he had “reservations” on the bill since he had first heard about it “five and a half months ago.”
In response to Manchin’s announcement on Fox News, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki released a lengthy statement claiming that Manchin’s comments were “at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances. Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the President, at his home in Wilmington, to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced. Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework ‘in good faith.’”
Psaki additionally claimed that “If [Manchin’s] comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues.”
According to Manchin, Psaki’s dramatic response came because Democrats thought they could bully him into supporting the bill because he is just one person, and they failed to do so.
“They figured surely to God we can move one person. We surely can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough that they’ll just say, ‘OK I’ll vote for anything,’” Manchin said. “Well, guess what? I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive, period.”
