BACK STAB!
Manchin says “no” to “Build Back Better”
After stringing Biden along for months, and getting huge concessions, he backs out.
It’s a clash of priorities. Manchin wants NO social legislation and NO climate legislation (he’s a millionaire coal broker). He wants Biden to focus on Covid-19 and inflation. What more can Biden do about Covid-19 that he isn’t doing? Manchin’s inflation position is a Republican talking point; economists say deflation, not inflation, is the economy’s underlying problem and inflation will fade. The reality is Democrats don’t have a Senate majority; Manchin isn’t one of them.
Gone are:
- Free preschool.
- Medicaid expansion.
- Subsidized child care.
- Lower Medicare drug prices.
- Paid family and medical leave.
- Low-income health care subsidies.
(See story here) I’d expect the loss of subsidized child care, together with the end of child tax credits in January 2022, to contribute to the labor shortage by keeping a large number of mothers with young children out of the workforce.