For months now Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have been a thorn in the side of the Democrats. Sen. Sinema has been widely reported as being unwilling to have discussions about the Build Back Better (BBB) bill, while Sen. Manchin has at least appeared approachable about making concessions. Both widely realize that this is too widespread to be done in a single bill, and it should be broken down into easily discussed and debated segments.
As Sen. Manchin has been keeping this flexibility wide known, President Biden summoned him from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. very quickly after the start of the new year. Per Axios, he has been in talks “on the climate and childcare provisions…if the White House removes the enhanced child tax credit from the $1.75 trillion package — or dramatically lowers the income caps for eligible families.” The language of the funding has been huge to Sen. Manchin.
With his West Virginians at the forefront of his mind and his actions, Manchin has been advocating on their behalf to get things changed. This includes making sure the BBB is designed with them in mind if it is to pass the Senate; hence the lowering of the income gaps. He sees this as a potential win for his constituents, the Democrats as a whole, and for himself, if things are done in his version of ‘correctly’.
Being whisked away to meet with the White House by phone or in-person is usually a big deal for the lesser-known or new Senators. For Sen. Manchin, this is nothing new and it seems as if he loves to go have these meetings, as it gives him an opportunity to get his agenda in front of the leader of the free world. Mind you, back in December Sen. Manchin considered this to be a dead issue as he could not continue in good faith.
In a separate Axios report, they claimed “The Senate Democratic Caucus sees salvaging the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better package as key to boosting the party’s chances in this fall’s midterms, especially as President Biden’s popularity sags in the polls.” This would explain why he was willing to meet with President Biden about this issue again after the new year. With the midterms coming up in less than 11 months, it was time to get plans in motion to keep some presence in the American government.
As the Democrats continue to push this bill down the throats of everyone who will listen, they conveniently forget about why they are there; to be a voice of the people. To represent what they want. Yet, none of the Democrats are educating the people about this bill. The people instead push for it because their favorite politician or TV political reporter said it was a good thing for them. This blind following is how people like Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) have been able to stay in office for so long.
For the people who have looked at the bill, they know this is a recipe for horrible results. The numbers prove it could be a very expensive bill if the packages are kept after their initial terms. Given the reluctance of people to give up free programs once they have been implemented, people know how badly this will end if BBB comes to be a reality. We as a people need to look into the BBB and let our Senators know that this isn’t for us, and why not!!