Manchin backs off 'Build Back Better'

President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan may have been bulldozed on Sunday, when Senator Joe Manchin said he will not support the spending proposals of his fellow Democrats.

The West Virginia lawmaker, a "moderate" Democrat in Washington parlance, was sharply criticized by the White House for voicing opposition to the $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill, which was reduced from $3.5 trillion in large part to secure Manchin's vote.

"I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation," Manchin said during an interview on Fox News Sunday, citing concerns about inflation. "I just can't. I have tried everything humanly possible."

The US has experienced inflation in both consumer and wholesale prices not seen since the 1980s. The Federal Reserve last week in a policy statement announced that it expected to raise interest rates three times in 2022, conceding that inflation has not been "transitory" amid a pandemic-altered economy.

Manchin released a statement Sunday accusing his party of pushing for an increase in the debt load that would "drastically hinder" the United States' ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face," Manchin said in a statement. "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."

Manchin said the bill "will also risk the reliability of our electric grid and increase our dependence on foreign supply chains".

West Virginia relies on coal for almost 90 percent of its electricity needs, and Manchin said that shifting from traditional energy sources "at a rate that is faster than technology or the markets allow will have catastrophic consequences for the American people like we have seen in both Texas and California in the last two years".

Manchin, 74, represents a state that twice voted for Donald Trump for president. Trump won the state by nearly 39 percent in 2020 and 42 percent in 2016.

In a statement Sunday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: "Senator Manchin's comments this morning on FOX are 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.'

"If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position," she said.

Psaki said, "We will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word," adding that the administration would "find a way to move forward next year" with the legislation.

Build Back Better would raise taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations to pay for programs such as free child care and to address climate change. It also includes price controls on prescription drugs and funding for public housing.

Biden has argued that reducing such costs is critical at a time of rising inflation and as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, which suddenly has re-emerged with the arrival of the Omicron variant.

Republicans say the proposed legislation would increase the federal deficit, fuel inflation and hurt the economy.

Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, said: "President Biden's mega-spending bill is dead and Joe Manchin put the nail in the coffin. With a divided country, a 50-50 Senate and blowout inflation, the American people don't want to upend this country with nakedly partisan legislation."

Manchin's support is vital for the bill in the 100-member Senate, where Democrats have the slimmest margin of control — the tiebreaking vote of Vice-President Kamala Harris — while the 50 Republicans are united in their opposition to the bill.

If Manchin were convinced to back the bill, the White House still would have to win over Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a moderate Democrat from Arizona who has not committed to supporting it.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent and democratic socialist from Vermont who helped shape the legislation, told CNN on Sunday that he believes there still should be a vote on the measure, despite Manchin's opposition.

"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," Sanders said.

Last month, Biden signed into law a $1 trillion infrastructure bill with some support from Republicans that aims to create jobs by disbursing money to state and local governments to fix bridges and roads and expand internet access, among other features.

Liberal Democrats in Congress had pushed to couple the Build Back Better legislation with the infrastructure bill with the hopes of ensuring the passage of the former.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, led an effort in September to decouple the two bills.

"Let's be clear: Manchin's excuse is bull----," US Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said on Twitter. "This is exactly what we warned would happen if we separated Build Back Better from infrastructure."

"During this process, we should not ignore that Members of the Republican Party have wholly refused to work with Democrats on these priorities," said US Representative Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, in a statement. "But after months of negotiations, one Democratic US Senator has now summarily walked away from productive negotiations. That is unacceptable, and we cannot act like this moment is the end."

Reuters contributed to this story.