On The Money — Dems lay blame for Build Back Better blowup

Madeline Monroe

Happy Monday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-release.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Today’s Big Deal: The fallout from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) pulling the plug on President Biden’s agenda. We’ll also look at two big House retirements and tax filing relief for storm victims.

But first, a White House pup-date.

For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Naomi Jagoda and Aris Folley.  Write us at slane@digital-release.thehill.com or @SylvanLane,njagoda@digital-release.thehill.com or @NJagoda, and afolley@digital-release.thehill.com or @ArisFolley.

Let’s get to it.

Dems cast blame after bill is derailed

Finger-pointing consumed the Democratic party on Monday, one day after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced he would vote no on President Biden’s signature climate and social policy legislation, effectively derailing the president’s domestic agenda heading into a critical election year.

There’s no shortage of Democrats piling on Manchin, whose ongoing concerns about the bill hung up negotiations in the 50-50 Senate for months.

  • “I think what Sen. Manchin did yesterday represents such an egregious breach of the trust of the president,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s an outcome we had warned about well over a month ago.”
  • Another leader of the Progressive Caucus, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), accused Manchin of abandoning suffering Americans and undermining Biden and the United States on the world stage after the president addressed a Scotland climate gathering and vowed action. 

But while much of the party’s frustration was aimed at Manchin, some Democrats on Capitol Hill voiced outrage with the White House for bungling the Build Back Better negotiations.

  • Biden promised progressives that if they cleared the way for the infrastructure bill, he would secure Manchin’s vote for Build Back Better. 
  • One Democratic lawmaker said Biden should never have overpromised to progressives, especially about backing big liberal priorities like paid family leave and expanded child tax credits that Manchin was privately rejecting.

“I do think [Biden] needs to clean house if we have any chance of salvaging 2022. There have to be consequences,” the lawmaker added. 

Scott Wong, Amie Parnes and Morgan Chalfant have the latest here.

Read more about the Build Back Blowup: 

  • Biden’s relationship with ‘Joe-Joe’ Manchin hits the rocks
  • Opinion: White House incivility is what ‘lost’ Joe Manchin
  • Manchin hits back at White House pressure on Biden plan
  • White House on Biden and Manchin: ‘The door remains open

 

LEADING THE DAY

Progressive leader calls on Biden to unilaterally act on agenda

Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on Monday called on President Biden to use executive action to unilaterally enact pieces of Democrats’ Build Back Better agenda, just one day after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) derailed the party’s signature climate and social spending package.

  • “[N]o one should think that we are going to be satisfied with an even smaller package that leaves people behind or refuses to tackle critical issues like climate change,” Jayapal said on a conference call with reporters.
  • “That’s why it is now incumbent on President Biden to keep his promise to us and to the American people by using the ultimate tool in his toolbox of executive action in every arena immediately,” she added.

It’s unclear what pieces of the roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better package could be enacted unilaterally by Biden and withstand legal challenges. For example, it’s unlikely Biden could use his executive powers to extend expanded child tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the month.

Still, progressives are pressing Biden to take action, and to also make tackling climate change a top priority. Scott has more here.

 

HOUSE ‘ICON’ SET TO RETIRE

Powerful House Democratic appropriator not seeking reelection

Longtime Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), the powerful chairwoman of an Appropriations subcommittee overseeing immigration issues, will not seek reelection in 2022, two sources familiar with her decision told The Hill on Monday.

Roybal-Allard, 80, has begun calling Democratic allies and friends about her retirement, the sources said.

“She is an icon,” said a fellow Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) member.

Read more here from The Hill’s Scott Wong and Rafael Bernal.

A growing number of retirements: Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a leader of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, announced Monday that she won’t seek reelection.

 

DISASTER RELIEF

IRS extends tax deadlines in Illinois, Tennessee counties following tornadoes

The IRS on Monday announced extensions of tax deadlines in parts of Tennessee and Illinois affected by deadly tornadoes, after the agency provided the same relief for taxpayers in parts of Kentucky last week.

Individuals in the designated parts of Tennessee and Illinois will have until May 16 to file their 2021 tax returns that otherwise would have been due April 18, the IRS said. The IRS also moved other deadlines to May 16 for the affected taxpayers, including quarterly estimated tax payments and business tax returns.

Read more from Naomi here.

Good to Know

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Elad Roisman announced Monday he will resign from the stock market regulator at the end of January.

Here’s what else have our eye on:

  • Starbucks said Monday it will negotiate in good faith with workers at a Buffalo, N.Y., store who voted to unionize earlier this month.
  • The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), which represents West Virginia coal miners, urged Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday to revisit his opposition to President Biden’s Build Back Better plan.

 

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

Tags Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Joe Biden Joe Manchin Lucille Roybal-Allard Pramila Jayapal Stephanie Murphy Veronica Escobar

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