OnPolitics: Manchin says no to Build Back Better
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Happy Monday, OnPolitics readers!
ICYMI this past weekend: Employers will be given more time to comply with a federal requirement that workers get vaccinated for COVID-19 or be regularly tested, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Saturday after a federal appeals court allowed the rule to go forward.
Workers who are not fully vaccinated won’t have to be regularly tested for the coronavirus until Feb. 9, more than a month after the original deadline of Jan. 4.
Another effort from Biden falls through: Senate Republicans have escalated their attacks on a key part of Biden's $2 trillion Build Back Better Plan.
Republican lawmakers assailed Biden’s plan to pump $80 billion into the Internal Revenue Service, warning that the infusion of cash would enable the IRS to unleash an army of auditors and regulators eager to pry into the lives of hard-working Americans.
But that's not what's really stopping Biden's social and climate change proposals from getting through Congress.
It's Amy and Mabinty with today's top stories.
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Sen. Joe Manchin says no to BBB
Sen. Joe Manchin said he won't support President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill, a potentially fatal blow to the president's signature domestic policy plan to expand the social safety net and tackle climate change.
"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 said in an interview with Fox News. "This is a no."
Push back from the White House: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the senator and the White House had not finished working to find agreement.
"Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground. If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate," she said in a statement.
The Build Back Better Act narrowly passed the House last month over the unanimous opposition of Republicans. The legislation includes a number of liberal priorities, such as free preschool, major climate change initiatives and extending the child tax credit.
Why is Manchin against BBB? Manchin raised concerns about more government spending, saying the social programs in the bill were unaffordable and not targeted enough to needy Americans. He objected to climate provisions that would hurt the fossil fuels industry in his state.
Real quick: stories you’ll want to read
RIP to a former senator: Johnny Isakson, an affable Georgia Republican U.S. senator known as an effective, behind-the-scenes consensus builder, died Sunday.
Trump strikes back: Donald Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday in what legal experts described as a longshot bid to block her investigation into his business practices.
A presidency in jeopardy: While COVID-19 is on the rise and the heart of his domestic agenda is in new peril, Biden risks the apt comparison to Jimmy Carter.
Who is Joe Manchin?: The West Virginia Democrat, who emerged as a pivotal vote in the 50-50 Senate this year, has likely ended Biden's months-long effort to expand social safety net and climate change programs.
What won't happen with Build Back Better likely dead
Free preschool. Subsidized child care. Medicaid expansion. Paid family and medical leave. Those initiatives and others could be in jeopardy if Manchin’s decision sinks the roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better bill.
Here’s a closer look at what’s at risk:
Prekindergarten: One of the signature components of the bill is $109 billion to fund free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. The money would benefit as many as 6 million children and would flow to established programs, such as Head Start.
Subsidized child care: The bill includes nearly $276 billion over six years for child care for parents with kids up to 5 years old. The measure would cap child care expenses at 7% of a family's income for low- and moderate-income households.
Paid family and medical leave: Workers would get up to four weeks of paid family medical leave under Build Back Better.
COVID-19 is surging around the country. Be safe and stay up to date on all the latest news here. — Amy and Mabinty
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sen. Joe Manchin says no to Biden's social spending package
