Manchin, a crucial swing vote, doesn't sound like he'll give the green light to the plan anytime soon.
He urged a pause on moving ahead with the bill. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan and a spike in COVID-19 infections are more urgent priorities for Congress to address. Manchin is railing against inflation.
Democrats are worried about the possibility of an abrupt cutoff of child tax credit checks. The last payment will be made on December 15. Experts say a lapse would hurt low-income families the most because they wouldn't be able to receive aid. It wouldn't come in monthly installments.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that 346,000 kids in West Virginia could lose federal aid.
Manchin was fed up with the idea of more federal spending.
The West Virginia Democrat told Insider that they were doing an awful lot. We did an expansion of the program. We've done everything we can to help people.
He said that there are an awful lot of things that have been very good.
At Capitol Hill, Manchin pulled out a small white card that listed both bipartisan and Democratic achievements and argued that his party hadn't promoted them enough. The recent $550 billion infrastructure law was passed with only Democratic votes.
Jake Sherman is on December 8, 2021.
The card said Congress had authorized over $6 billion in extra federal spending. Emergency health spending, small business aid, direct payments, federal unemployment benefits, and small business aid were some of the things that were devoted to fighting the Pandemic.
Manchin said the bill needed to be scrubbed so it complied with Senate rules and large parts of it were still being negotiated.
Chuck Schumer is standing by his December 25 deadline. The legislation must pass over GOP opposition in order for the Senate Democrats to coalesce around it. Manchin's resistance could delay or sink the measure.
He said on the Senate floor that they were on track to vote on a final product before Christmas. The better off American families will be as we start the new year if we pass Build Back Better.
