Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) criticized Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday hours after he publicly refused to sign off on the latest iteration of a $1.75 social spending package that House Democrats hoped to vote on this week.
“Joe Manchin does not get to dictate the future of our country,” Bush said in a statement. “I do not trust his assessment of what our communities need the most. I trust the parents in my district who can’t get to their shift without childcare. I trust the scientists who have shown us what our future will look like if we fail to meaningfully address the climate crisis. I trust the patients and doctors crying out for comprehensive health coverage for every person in America.”
“Joe Manchin’s opposition to the Build Back Better Act is anti-Black, anti-child, anti-woman and anti-immigrant,” Bush added. “Senator Manchin must support the Build Back Better Act.”
Bush also said that the “Black, brown and Indigenous communities” that would benefit from the spending plan “are overwhelmingly excluded from the bipartisan infrastructure bill” that has passed the Senate but not yet been voted on in the House as progressives insist on first getting a deal on the broader legislation
Manchin has frustrated fellow Democrats with his refusal to support the social package, complicating the House’s intentions to have a timely vote on the bill this week.
The West Virginia Democrat said in a press conference Monday that Democratic lawmakers who wrote the bill are using “shell games and budget gimmicks” to cover “the real cost” of the package, which he claimed could be “twice as high” as expected if its proposed programs get extended.
He also voiced concerns of “hurting American families suffering from historic inflation” and added that he would not vote for the plan until he had an “understanding the impact it will have on our national debt.”
Negotiations on the two bills have dragged on for months, with Biden’s approval rating sinking and a growing number of Democrats voicing exasperation that two Senate centrists — Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) — are helping prevent a vote from happening.