– A breach of his promises to the president – VG

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Joe Manchin is a 74-year-old senator who represents the Democrats in West Virginia. He is perhaps also the politician that President Joe Biden has spent the most time on since winning the election in November last year.

Manchin is politically at the far right of the Democratic Party. As the Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, Joe Biden is dependent on Manchin’s support for new laws.

Such as the prestige project «Build Back Better», which according to Associated Press among other things, will ensure that billions of dollars are set aside to help families with children and housing benefits for the poor.

– Have tried everything

The bite has according to CNN spent an entire year on talks with Manchin, both about the infrastructure law that was passed after a long tug of war and about “Build Back Better”. The two have met at Biden in Delaware, in the White House, on Manchin’s houseboat and over the phone to find compromises that both can accept.

Then Manchin appeared on Fox News.

– I can not continue work on this bill. I just can not. I have tried everything that is humanly possible. I’m not coming ashore. It will be no. I have tried everything I can think of, and the president has also worked tirelessly. He has been great to work with. He knows that I have concerns and problems with parts of the bill, says Manchin.

The senator also published a statement on his website, where he explains that Biden’s prestige project is too expensive. Build Back Better is estimated to cost $ 2,000 billion.

Also read: The Democrat who has become Biden’s worst nightmare

– Unexplained reversal

CNN reports that this should have made Biden furious. The president allegedly tried to reach Manchin by phone, without success. Then he instead approved a press release from the White House, which strongly attacks the senator.

“If his comments to Fox and in his written statement indicate the end of the negotiations, this is an abrupt and inexplicable reversal from his previous position, and a breach of his promises to the president and the senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate,” press officer Jen Psaki wrote in the press release. from the White House.

CNN refers to the press release as “a remarkable statement that attacks a member of Biden’s own party”.

Biden’s bill was approved in the House of Representatives, but must also pass the Senate to be finally passed. It looks impossible now.

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