The White House slams Joe Manchin and charges him with 'a sudden and inexplicable reversal' for effectively sinking Biden's social spending bill
- The White House on Sunday ripped Manchin for opposing President Biden's spending bill.
- Psaki said it amounted to a "sudden and inexplicable reversal" in his position.
The White House is taking the gloves off with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
On Sunday, a statement from White House press secretary Jen Psaki assailed Manchin and accused him of breaking his word with President Joe Biden.
"If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator's colleagues in the House and Senate," Psaki said in the statement.
Psaki added that Manchin had personally handed Biden a $1.8 trillion framework that he could get behind.
But they would continue pressing Manchin to see if he'd backtrack from his position once again.
Manchin on Sunday announced he was opposed to President Joe Biden's $2 trillion social spending bill in a Fox News interview, effectively dooming the centerpiece of the president's economic agenda.
"This is a no on this legislation," he said in a Fox News interview. "I have tried everything I know to do."
The White House earlier in the week said it was having "productive" discussions with Manchin. But it's apparent that the negotiations had been going nowhere with the conservative Democrat. Manchin's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The legislation would mark a big expansion of the American safety net. It would set up universal pre-K, renew monthly child tax credit payments to American families for another year, establish federal subsidies for childcare, combat the climate emergency and more. Democrats wanted to finance it with new taxes on rich Americans and large corporations currently paying little or no federal tax.
Psaki in her statement pointed out the administration's view of what Manchin's continued opposition to the legislation would mean for Americans.
"Senator Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that, instead of $35 for that vital medicine. He will have to explain to the nearly two million women who would get the affordable day care they need to return to work why he opposes a plan to get them the help they need," the statement read.
She continued: "Maybe Senator Manchin can explain to the millions of children who have been lifted out of poverty, in part due to the Child Tax Credit, why he wants to end a program that is helping achieve this milestone — we cannot."
The White House wasn't alone in going after Manchin. Progressives were also furious at Manchin for derailing legislation that contained their cherished priorities on climate, childcare, and education.
Sen. Bernie Sanders said on CNN's State of the Union: "He's going to have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also had fierce criticism for Manchin. Progressives had effectively put their hopes in Biden to deliver his support for the party-line bill after loosening their blockade on the bipartisan infrastructure law. They had earlier demanded that it pass alongside the social spending and climate bill.
"When a handful of us in the House warned this would happen if Dem leaders gave Manchin everything he wanted 1st by moving BIF before BBB instead of passing together, many ridiculed our position," she wrote on Twitter. "Maybe they'll believe us next time. Or maybe people will just keep calling us naïve."