WaPo: Manchin's $1.8 trillion spending offer appears no longer to be on the table

[Celerity]

The West Virginia Democrat, who has consulted Mitt Romney and Trump’s former economic adviser, had backed climate and education spending, but talks are now on ice

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/01/08/manchin-white-house-talks/


Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) on Jan. 4 said he has not spoken with the White House about the Build Back Better Act since he stated his opposition in December. (The Washington Post)

The week before Christmas, Sen. Joe Manchin III sent the White House a $1.8 trillion counteroffer to President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda that included substantial funds for climate, health-care and education initiatives.

About four weeks later, the West Virginia Democrat has made clear that he does not currently support advancing even that offer following a breakdown in negotiations between Manchin and the White House right before Christmas, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Manchin said publicly this week that he was no longer involved in talks with the White House over the economic package. Privately, he has also made clear that he is not interested in approving legislation resembling Biden’s Build Back Better package and that Democrats should fundamentally rethink their approach. Senior Democrats say they do not believe Manchin would support his offer even if the White House tried adopting it in full — at least not at the moment — following the fallout in mid-December. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Negotiations deteriorated quickly in December after a White House news release named Manchin as the obstacle to passing the legislation. Manchin then surprised the administration by criticizing the bill on Fox News, after which the White House released a blistering statement calling his credibility into question. Manchin, who has drawn protesters’ ire because of his opposition to the legislation, later said the decision to name him in the news release imperiled the safety of his family.

snip

[FalloutShelter]

1. Imperiled the safety of his family because of a news release?

What a load of horseshit! He has down nothing but suck. up for spotlight and media attention, now he wants to pretend that his privacy and wellbeing has been breached.

Eff right off snowflake!

[JohnSJ]

2. A speculation by me. If the climate change for Manchin is now on ICE, that would imply that the

upgrade to the GRID would not happen, and without that the entire all electric car market feasibility for an all electric vehicle would be greatly reduced in the United States

It is pretty clear we need to win the majority in the Senate by at least two seats, and maintain the majority in the House to get effective Climate change in a bill.

The best chance we have to accomplish that is to pass voting legislation, and in order to do that we need to change the filibuster rules. Can Manchin and Sinema be convinced at least to do that for the voting legislation? They cannot be that naive not to realize that the right to vote is beyond politics, and if that is nullified by state legislation, then we cannot be considered a democracy

[jimfields33]

3. I would think that the car companies should begin the transition at gas stations

It’s for their best interest. I wonder how the gas stations were started in the 1920s and after. I think we should emulate exactly what we did then. It seems to go perfectly.

[moniss]

7. Maybe

we need to make sure that while we are transitioning we also don't make the mistake of creating an industry that is able to maintain a stranglehold on electricity and the charging infrastructure. I don't want to see an Exxon of electricity or a BP of charging stations. I am afraid it may come however. I believe that the oligarchs will watch the infrastructure/generation/distribution build out and then attempt to buy it up and consolidate it for their control/exploitation.

[moniss]

6. Agreed

but I am fairly certain that no matter what gets passed for voting rights, if anything, will be immediately challenged in an expedited fashion to the Supreme Court. They will ask for an injunction until the case is decided and the GQP members on the court will likely grant that request. The Supremes will slow walk any decision until after the mid-terms. Voting rights needed to be the first item on the agenda rather than the afterthought status it seems to have been given. In other words although we might not want to confront the reality of permanent GQP control it appears to be here. The coming mid-terms will see accusations by wingnuts of "problems" in elections in some state(s) and the nullification of the voters will be put into play. A dry run for 2024.

[Tommymac]

4. I consider the source on this one.

Name some names as source material or get off the pot WaPo.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a Manchin backer by any means, but IMO the WaPo is as trustworthy as Manchin in most cases.

[Carlitos Brigante]

5. Something tells me that his "ideal bill" would've consisted on

providing McDonald's and Jiffy Lube discount coupons to the people.... I meant 'some people' actually. 'Cause you gotta make sure to exclude all the "free loaders".