Manchin Declares “I Cannot Vote” for Build Back Better as CBO Confirms $4.9 Trillion True Cost

On 12/19/2021, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia declared he could not vote for the Build Back Better Act after months of negotiations, effectively killing the centerpiece of President Biden’s domestic agenda. “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Manchin said. GOP senators simultaneously held a press conference revealing that the CBO had confirmed the bill’s true cost at $4.9 trillion and that 78-90% of new IRS enforcement revenue would come from incomes below $200,000.

Manchin: “I’ve Tried Everything Humanly Possible”

Manchin said he had worked extensively with the president, Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and House Speaker Pelosi but could not reach an agreement. “I’ve been working on this, meeting with whether it be the president, President Biden, whether it be Majority Leader Schumer and his staff, whether it be with Nancy Pelosi, and I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,” Manchin said.

He cited inflation as a primary concern. “Inflation is real. It’s not going away anytime soon,” Manchin said, adding that if he could not explain to his constituents why he would vote for the bill, he could not vote for it. “This is a no,” he said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a blistering statement in response, calling on Manchin to “be true to his word” and accusing him of a “sudden and inexplicable reversal.” “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,” Psaki said.

CBO Confirms $4.9 Trillion True Cost

Senator Crapo announced that the CBO had finally weighed in on the bill’s actual cost. “CBO has now joined in and said, no, that’s actually $4.9 trillion,” Crapo said. “So we finally have the scorekeeper for Congress weighing in on what the true cost of this bill is. That should be game over.”

Crapo noted that even with the Democrats’ budget gimmicks, the bill carried significant deficits. “The real cost, according to CBO now, is an additional $3 trillion,” he said. He tied this directly to the looming debt ceiling vote: “We’ve all been voting in a series of votes. The cloture vote on raising the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion. And if this bill is passed, we’ll need another debt ceiling increase for $3 trillion.”

Raging Inflation, Raging Debt

Crapo painted a stark picture of the economic environment in which Democrats were pushing the spending bill. “Inflation is now at 6.8 percent, reaching a near 40-year high,” he said. “Gasoline prices up 60 percent over last year. Meat prices — bacon up 21 percent. The producer price index is up 9.6 percent today, the fastest pace on record.”

“We have raging inflation, we have raging debt, and we have raging spending,” Crapo said. “And if this bill passes, raging tax increases that are going to harm the economy and further drive the inflation problems we face today.”

IRS Enforcement Targets the Middle Class

The press conference revealed data from the Joint Tax Committee showing that the bill’s $80 billion IRS expansion would overwhelmingly target middle-class taxpayers — contradicting Biden’s pledge that no one making under $400,000 would pay more.

“The Joint Tax Report shows that of this tax gap that the IRS dollars are going to collect, 78 to 90 percent of that tax gap falls on incomes below $200,000,” a senator explained. “And when you push all the way up to the $400,000 level that the president is talking about, only somewhere between 4 to 9 percent of it is for people above that category.”

“The IRS cannot generate the money that the Democrats are claiming they need for this bill unless it focuses the target right on the middle class,” the senator added. “And that’s what the data shows. That’s what they don’t want to say.”

The bill also included $105 million for the IRS to create new regulators to write regulations for accessing bank account information — even though the original $600 bank account reporting threshold had been publicly withdrawn.

Manchin’s Concerns About Staff

Manchin would later elaborate on his frustrations, telling a home-state radio host that his concerns were with White House staff rather than the president personally. “It is not the president. This is staff,” Manchin said. “And they drove some things, and they put some things out, that were absolutely inexcusable. They know what it is.”

Key Takeaways

Senator Manchin declared “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,” effectively killing Biden’s Build Back Better Act after months of negotiations.
The CBO confirmed the bill’s true cost at $4.9 trillion when scored without budget gimmicks, with an additional $3 trillion in deficits.
Joint Tax Committee data showed 78-90% of new IRS enforcement revenue would come from incomes below $200,000, contradicting Biden’s pledge to protect those making under $400,000.
Inflation stood at 6.8%, a near 40-year high, with gasoline up 60% and the producer price index at its fastest pace on record.
Psaki issued a statement accusing Manchin of a “sudden and inexplicable reversal” at odds with his discussions with the president.

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there.
CBO has now joined in and said, no, that’s actually $4.9 trillion. So we finally have the scorekeeper for Congress weighing in on what the true cost of this bill is. That should be game over.
We have raging inflation, we have raging debt, and we have raging spending, and if this bill passes raging tax increases.
78 to 90 percent of that tax gap falls on incomes below $200,000. The IRS cannot generate the money that the Democrats are claiming they need unless it focuses the target right on the middle class.
There’s $105 million in this bill for the IRS to create a new army of regulators so that they can write all the regulations they need in order to get into the bank accounts of people.

Full transcript: 703 words transcribed via Whisper AI.