On 12/19/2021, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., declared that after months of negotiations he has determined that there is no way he can support the massive social spending bill known as the Build Back Better Act. Manchin said that he has spoken with President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., but could not reach an agreement on the legislation.

“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,” he said, stating that if he cannot explain to his constituents why he would vote for a bill, then he cannot vote for it, despite all the work he and other Democrats have put into trying to make it work. “This is a no,” he said. “I have tried everything I know to do.” “Inflation is real, it’s not going away any time soon,” he said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement calling on Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to “be true to his word” and reconsider his opposition, “Senator Manchin’s comments this morning on FOX are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances.”

On 12/14/2021, Sen. Crapo, “CBO has said [the true cost] is $4.9 trillion. We finally have the scorekeeper for Congress weighing in on what the true cost of this bill is. That should be game over. The next vote that we’ll have is on raising the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion. If this bill is passed, we’ll need yet another debt ceiling increase of $3 trillion. That should be the focus of debate today.”

“Inflation is now at 6.8 percent, reaching a near 40-year high. Average change in prices paid by consumers for goods has gone up. Gasoline prices are up 60 percent over last year. Meat prices are up, with bacon at 21 percent over last year. The producer price index is up 9.6 percent today, the fastest pace on record. These are measures of average prices that producers receive for their output. We have raging inflation, raging debt, raging spending, and if this bill passes, raging tax increases that are going to harm the economy and further drive inflation problems we face today.”

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Manchin kills Build Back Better, Psaki slams Manchin’s ‘sudden and inexplicable reversal’