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White House press secretary Jen Psaki continued to act Wednesday as if Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to President Biden’s massive social spending bill may be temporary when pressed on the West Virginia Democrat’s objections to what he called budget “gimmicks” that made the bill appear less costly.
Manchin announced his opposition to Biden’s Build Back Better Act on Sunday, giving a firm “no” that effectively killed it in the evenly divided Senate. But Biden, Psaki and some Democratic-aligned groups want Manchin to reconsider.
CBS News reporter Major Garrett asked Psaki at a press briefing about Manchin’s complaint that some programs in the bill lasted for shorter periods of time than the revenue streams meant to pay for them, making the overall cost seem smaller.
“One thing he has said is, whatever is in there should be there for a fixed number of years and if there are things in it that are a high priority, they should be made permanent,” Garrett asked. “In general, does the White House agree with that?”
“Well, I would say first that the president has been clear that he wants anything that is in this package to be paid for and he wants the package to be paid for,” Psaki said.
“There are components of this where there would need to be decisions made over the course of time about extending them. The president’s been clear about his intention of paying for that,” she added. “Beyond that I would note that there’s been a lot of negotiations leading up to this point. There will be more negotiations, no doubt about it — everybody stay tuned and settle in — to continue to discuss and as a part of that, there was agreement on the length of time of different components of the package. You know, obviously compromise is not a dirty word.”
At another point in the briefing, Psaki said: “Our focus now is moving forward, both with our relationship with Senator Manchin and our efforts to get Build Back Better done.”
The press secretary’s comments echoed those of Biden, who told reporters Tuesday that “I still think there’s a possibility of getting Build Back Better done.”
Manchin said over the weekend that he was done with negotiations on the bill because of his concern about inflation and his opposition to certain provisions.
“I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful to every hard-working American at the gasoline pumps, grocery stores and utility bills with no end in sight,” the senator said in a Sunday statement.
“The American people deserve transparency on the true cost of the Build Back Better Act,” he added. “The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office determined the cost is upwards of $4.5 trillion which is more than double what the bill’s ardent supporters have claimed. They continue to camouflage the real cost of the intent behind this bill.”
The senator also slammed Biden’s White House negotiators — though mentioning none by name — for not listening to his policy demands when his vote was needed.
“It is not the president. This is staff,” Manchin told home-state radio host Hoppy Kercheval on Monday. “And they drove some things, and they put some things out, that were absolutely inexcusable. They know what it is.”
Manchin’s vote was needed in the 50-50 Senate and he told Kercheval that he could have supported the bill if it was smaller and did more to lower prescription drug costs.
He specifically said he wanted a work requirement and a new income cap as a condition of extending an enhanced annual child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000 per child — or $3,600 for those under six.
Manchin said he also wanted to ensure that the bill’s $12,500 rebates for the purchase of electric vehicles didn’t go to wealthy people.
The senator previously griped that his own relatively poor state set up free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, which the act would have done nationwide, without federal aid. He also opposed a provision that would have federally subsidized four weeks of paid private-sector family leave.
“If you’re going to negotiate then negotiate. Don’t start picking and choosing and playing games,” Manchin told Kercheval.
The House passed the package last month with a $2.2 trillion price tag. But the Congressional Budget Office said the plan would cost about $4.5 trillion — and add $3 trillion to the federal deficit — if its programs are extended over 10 years.
The House-passed version includes $555 billion for environmental programs and would have capped child care costs at 7 percent of income for most families. The bill also would have increased from $10,000 to $80,000 the “SALT cap” on state and local taxes that can be deducted from federal taxes — benefiting people in high-tax area like New York and New Jersey — and expanded Medicare to include the cost of hearing aids.
“I tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Manchin told “Fox News Sunday”. “This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.”
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