Update (1515ET): Manchin on Monday laid out possible changes to the $2 trillion Build Back Better economic agenda which might encourage him to reverse his "no" on the legislation.
For starters, Manchin said he would only support a $1.75 trillion bill that seriously overhauls the US tax code, and that significantly lowers the cost of a broader array of prescription drugs vs. the current offering.
"If you’re going to negotiate then negotiate. Don’t start picking and choosing and playing games," he said.
He also wants work requirements for benefits, such as expanded child tax credits, as well as a means test which would cut off people making over $200,000 per y ear.
Manchin’s vision for the child tax credit is at odds with Biden’s pledge to not raise taxes on those earning less than $400,000. Manchin suggested scaling back the tax benefit for those earning between $200,000 and $400,000. He said he didn’t believe that parents who didn’t earn any income should be able to get the credit, a revision that would reverse a change Democrats made to the benefit earlier this year.
Even if those changes are made, Manchin indicated he has other issues with the bill and how its been pushed through Congress. -Bloomberg
The West Virginia moderate also said he wants the bill to be run through several Senate committees that would examine its effects, and he's also rejected attempts to fast-track "major policy changes" that would bypass the GOP filibuster.
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Update (1034ET): Sen. Joe Manchin said during a local radio interview that Joe Biden's staff did some 'inexcusable' things which drove him to reject the Build Back Better plan.
"They figured surely to God we can move one person. We surely can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough that they'll just say, 'OK I'll vote for anything,'" Manchin continued. "Well, guess what? I'm from West Virginia. I'm not from where they're from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they'll be submissive, period."
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