By Eric Ham
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – After months of back and forth negotiations, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has seemingly sealed the fate of President Biden’s signature agenda item, Build Back Better.
The Democratic senator announced—on Fox News—that he will not support the nearly $2 trillion spending package. “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” he told host Bret Baier. “This is a no on this legislation.”
Yet Tuesday, President Biden answered a reporter’s question by saying, “Senator Manchin and I are going to get something done.”
The president’s stubborn optimism manifested itself despite the fact Manchin’s public opposition to President Biden’s cornerstone legislation is sending shockwaves through Washington and beyond.
Sources say the White House was caught completely off guard by Senator Manchin’s abrupt decision to end negations and publicly announce he would not support the sweeping spending measure. Stunned and reeling from Mr. Manchin’s sudden departure, White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, put out a lengthy statement saying in part:
“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.
On Tuesday, in her regular White House news briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki didn’t back off her statement. Yet she attempted to move past it, saying she is not going to “relitigate” the past. Democrats, she said, are intent on somehow passing Build Back Better anyway.
In the meantime, Psaki’s Sunday statement, echoed by various Democratic voices, have said Sen. Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that, instead of $35 for the vital medicine, as provided in BBB.
He will have to explain to the nearly two million women who would get the affordable day care they need to return to work, they say, why he opposes a plan to get them the help they need. Maybe Sen. Manchin can explain to the millions of children who have been lifted out of poverty, in part due to the Child Tax Credit, they ask, why he wants to end a program that is helping achieve this milestone. Said Psaki, “We cannot.”
As the White House and Democratic lawmakers were grappling with the fallout from Manchin’s decision, reverberations were being felt beyond Washington. On Wall Street, Goldman Sachs lowered its 2022 economic forecast in the aftermath of Senator Manchin’s rejection of the massive spending bill. Tuesday President Biden said, “Look what happened. The stock market went down.”
The investment banking firm had announced that it had lowered its growth forecast from 3% to 2% in the first quarter; 3.5% to 3% in the second and from 35 to 2.75% in the third quarter. Meanwhiles the White House grapples with rising inflation and an unrelenting global pandemic. More aftershocks continued as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 650 points Monday on news of the failed spending deal, only to rebound to a large extent Tuesday. In Asia markets overnight Wednesday, the rebound appeared to falter in Japan and Hong Kong.
The White House is under siege on multiple fronts but the news is not all bad. Earl Carr, Chief Global Strategist, Pivotal Advisors, and author of “From Trump to Biden and Beyond: Reimagining U.S.-China Relations.” believes the White House is seeking greener economic pastures globally as prospects over spending programs dim.
Carr says, “The Biden administration—in delivering on its domestic agenda—has been met by resistance which is why they have focused their priority on foreign policy trade objectives. Despite, Covid, Delta, now Omicron coupled with rampant inflation and global supply chain issues, the silver lining has been U.S. trade figures. From Jan-Oct 2021, US exports to China are up 27%, U.S. imports to China are up 17% and U.S. exports to India are up 50%.”
Unfortunately, the silver lining on trade expenditures does very little to restore the precious political capital the White House has lost for at least the time being. The president must now face down questions about his ability to lead the Democratic Party and deliver on his agenda. Joe Biden is known as a “creature of the Senate and a deft navigator of its clubby idiosyncrasies.” The White House leaned into the president’s decades in Congress throughout negotiations as a pathway to success. Now that Manchin is a public no on BBB, the White House has to find a way to spin this very public failure but also regain credibility from his caucus and the markets.
In a recent interview, Vice-President Kamala Harris was asked who is President: Joe Biden or Joe Manchin? Undoubtedly, these questions will only grow louder as it appears one senator can sink an agenda and possibly a presidency, if not damage Democratic prospects in next year’s mid-term elections.
Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, faced a similar moment when the late Senator John McCain voted a “thumbs down” on a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. President Trump never completely overcame that failure in the legislative arena.
Unlike Trump, President Biden has already gotten game-changing legislation through Congress with successful passage of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation. Still, a “no” by a member of the president’s own party, if not countered in the weeks ahead, will be viewed as a massive failure. Now President Biden must find a way to turn a thumbs down into a thumbs up.
Contact this reporter: eric@macenews.com
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