Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) unloaded on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in a statement on Monday evening after Manchin explained earlier in the day that he was opposed to Biden’s massive social spending bill because it would cause an “economic crisis.”
“Joe Manchin does not get to dictate the future of our country,” Bush said in a statement. “I do not trust his assessment of what our communities need the most. I trust the parents in my district who can’t get to their shift without childcare. I trust the scientists who have shown us what our future will look like if we fail to meaningfully address the climate crisis. I trust the patients and doctors crying out for comprehensive health coverage for every person in America.”
Bush blamed the Senate for holding up the process to get the reconciliation bill passed and then effectively claimed that Manchin was a racist for opposing the bill.
“Joe Manchin’s opposition to the Build Back Better Act is anti-Black, anti-child, anti-woman, and anti-immigrant,” she claimed. “When we talk about transformative change, we are talking about a bill that will benefit Black, brown and Indigenous communities. Those same communities are overwhelmingly excluded from the bipartisan infrastructure bill. We cannot leave anyone behind. Senator Manchin must support the Build Back Better Act.”
Manchin said earlier in the day at a press conference that there were too many people “playing games” with the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill. He explained that he does not support the latter.
“Throughout the last three months, I’ve been straightforward about my concerns that I will not support a reconciliation package that expands social programs and irresponsibly adds to our $29 trillion in national debt that no one seems to really care about or even talk about,” Manchin said. “Nor will I support a package that risks hurting American families suffering from historic inflation. Simply put, I will not support a bill that is this consequential without thoroughly understanding the impact that it’ll have on our national debt, our economy, and most importantly, all of our American people.”
Manchin suggested that members of Congress do not really know what they are voting for or the impact that it will have on the country.
“For example, how can I in good conscience vote for a bill that proposes massive expansion to social programs when vital programs like Social Security and Medicare faces insolvency and benefits could start being reduced as soon as 2026 in Medicare and 2033 in Social Security? How does that make sense?” Manchin said. “And I don’t think it does. Meanwhile, elected leaders continue to ignore exploding inflation, that our national debt continues to grow and interest payments on the debt will start to rapidly increase when the Fed has to start raising interest rates to try to slow down this runaway inflation.”
Manchin also warned that, as “the real details outline and the basic framework are released, what I see are shell games, budgets gimmicks that make the real cost of the so-called $1.75 trillion bill estimated to be almost twice that amount if the full-time has run out, if you extended it permanently and that we haven’t even spoken about.”
“This is a recipe for economic crisis,” he added. “None of us should ever represent to the American people what the real cost of legislation is. While I’ve worked hard to find a path to compromise, it’s obvious compromise is not good enough for a lot of my colleagues in Congress. It’s all or nothing and their position doesn’t seem to change unless we agree to everything. Enough is enough. It’s time our elected leaders in Washington, all of us, stop playing games with the needs of the American people and holding a critical infrastructure bill hostage.”