Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he cannot back his party’s signature $2 trillion social and environment bill.
This seemingly deals a fatal blow to President Joe Biden’s leading domestic initiative heading into an election year when Democrats’ narrow hold on Congress was already in peril.
Manchin told “Fox News Sunday” that he always has made clear he had reservations about the bill and that now, after five-and-half months of discussions and negotiations, “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation.”
His choice of words suggested an openness to continuing talks, but he all but said the bill would die unless it was reshaped to his terms.
In an unusually confrontational response to a senator whose vote is crucial, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Manchin’s statement “a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position” and “a breach of his commitments” to Biden and congressional Democrats.
“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,” she said.
The legislation’s apparent collapse is sure to deepen the bitter ideological divisions within the Democratic Party between progressives and moderates. That would call into question whether Democrats will be able to join together behind any substantial legislation before the November congressional elections.
And it adds a note of chaos just as Democrats need to demonstrate accomplishments and show a united front before the fall campaign.
(AP).
