A single Democrat came out against President Joe Biden’s massive, multitrillion-dollar Build Back Better plan and the left is having a collective conniption.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., said Sunday that he would have to cast a “no” vote for Democrats’ current Build Back Better bill, a version of which already has passed the House.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Manchin told host Bret Baier on “Fox News Sunday.”
“This is a no on this legislation,” the West Virginia Democrat said, adding:
I have tried everything that I know. And the president has worked tirelessly. He’s been wonderful to work with. He knows I’ve had concerns, and the problems I’ve had. You know what the thing we should all be focusing our attention on? [is]The [omicron] variant … that we have coming back at us in so many different aspects, in different ways. It’s affecting our lives again.
Manchin called the Democrats’ energy and social spending bill a “mammoth piece of legislation.”
His support would have allowed Senate Democrats to bypass a filibuster from Republicans and pass the spending bill. Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie.
Without Manchin’s support, it is unlikely the legislation will get to Biden’s desk.
The legislation is clearly ill-conceived.
As Preston Brashers, a tax policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, wrote in October, the plan “is a $3.5 trillion patchwork of taxes, mandates, job-killing regulations, and social welfare entitlements that will only exacerbate the supply-side issues plaguing the economy.” (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)
The total cost has been reduced some since then: It’s a mere $2 trillion now. It’s a great deal!
Democrats’ plan is not just full of exorbitant spending. It would bring the country closer to fully-funded government-run healthcare and put huge amounts of money into left-wing economic and social priorities.
This is because inflation has become a serious concern for many Americans.
The Build Back Better plan’s backers have insisted, despite the immense price tag, that the legislation somehow would stem inflation. It was also stated by Biden’s administration would cost “$0,” so it’s hard to take such proclamations seriously.
The bottom line is that Democrats’ spending bill has some major problems. The Biden administration, as well as Democrats, put a lot into getting it passed.
Given the sheer number of other political failures since Biden and Harris took office Jan. 20—on the economy, Afghanistan, other foreign policy, the southern border, and so many other areas—it’s clear that Democrats wanted something to end the year with a “win.”
Democrats are quick to point fingers now that their agenda has stalled. It’s Manchin’s fault! It’s the Republican Party’s fault. It’s the Senate’s fault!
Some Biden cheerleaders in media declare the possible failure of the Build back Better plan as the end of democracy in America.
Can you, dear reader, ever remember a single Democrat Party setback in your lifetime that wasn’t said to be the end of democracy? I sure can’t.
While the left always has stewed about the Senate, its anger gets selectively more intense every time the Senate’s rules and structures don’t favor it in a specific case.
Remember when the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was a hero for defeating Republicans’ attempt to repeal Obamacare in 2017 by flipping his vote to side with Democrats?
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), then-Senate Minority leader, called McCain a “sinister”. hero.
Schumer, now the majority leader, and other Democrats are not going to say such things about Manchin.
Jen Psaki is the White House press secretary He was called a liar, saying: “Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, 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.”
The House’s far-left “squad” is having a complete meltdown, of course.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Corte, D-N.Y., blasted the “entitled, privileged” Senate for holding up the legislation.
“It’s a farce in terms of, you know, plain democracy, because I represent more—or just, just as many or more people than Joe Manchin does, perhaps more?,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The New York Democrat was half right. West Virginia has more than twice the population in her Bronx-based District.
Ocasio Cortez would almost certainly not win a state race in New York, let’s not forget her win in the Bronx.
Talk about privilege.
It is tedious to watch the left attack the Senate.
The Senate is, by most measures, a “democratic” body. These days, citizens of their respective states vote directly for senators.
The Build Back Better bill won’t go down because of one man. It will be defeated by the many other senators, 50 of which are Republicans. These legislators also answer for the American people.
The issues that Democrats seem to have with federalism, the rules in the Senate and, ultimately, the Constitution are the ones Democrats seem to have problems with.
Anybody can do it, as always with the left institution that it doesn’t have complete control over, it seeks to destroy.
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