Earlier this morning as RedState reported, the White House took a victory lap, claiming that they had agreed to a framework on the “build back better” bill. It was implied that everyone Democrats, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Silena were involved in the “build back better” bill framework.
However, I found it hard to believe that there was a deal. If there was a deal, why weren’t the two moderates who have all the leverage rushing out to endorse it? It appears there has not been an actual agreement. Manchin stepped in this afternoon to dump cold water on Pelosi’s blitzing attempt to get both bills passed today.
Joe Manchin (Senator), asked by @tedbarrettcnnTo clarify his support for the framework, he said that he must first see the legislative text
“We haven’t seen the text yet. It must be seen by everyone. I don’t think anybody could say they could support it until they see the text.”
— Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) October 28, 2021
Before anything is possible, there are several issues that must be addressed. Manchin must like the offer. If he’s not sure about the framework, that makes it sound as if he wasn’t part of the negotiations, or at the very least, he wasn’t in the final meeting on the matter. If he were, he’d be bragging about reaching a deal.
Here, he says that he has to see the text first, and it’s going to take more than a few hours to go through 2,500+ pages. Your federal government is writing and passing a bill of 2,500+ pages in one day. There are many things that could go wrong.
Manchin is obviously concerned about any climate provisions that might have been snuck in that can handicap his home state of West Virginia, but then there’s the second issue at play. That involves whether the bill is “paid for” or not. Of course, it’s never really going to actually be paid for, as it’s just more deficit spending on top of deficit spending, but for the purposes of the reconciliation process, certain “pay for” measures must be present to meet the requirements. This means that the CBO will have to score it. It could even be stalled in the Senate, even if the bill passes today’s House vote despite the progressive protestations.
However, the chances of something being passed are high, which is what we expected. Given that Republicans do not hold the necessary majority to block it, this was impossible. Yet, if the bill is cut in half, while much of the most damaging, long-term measures are gone, that’s Something — considering the alternative.
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