Yesterday sniveling little South Carolina closet queen, Lindsey Graham, hissed on Hannity that "I think Build Back Better is dead forever, and let me tell you why: because Joe Manchin has said he's not going to vote for a bill that will add to the deficit. At the end of the day, Joe Manchin has promised the people of West Virginia, 'I will not vote for a bill that adds to the deficit that's full of gimmicks, so I think [it] is dead forever."
Conservatives like Graham and Manchin (and Sinema and the rest of the GOP) were never going to support Build Back Better from the day it was introduced. And it isn't because of all the great things it would do for middle and working class Americans and for America. Conservatives don't care one way or the other about any of that. Some like some of it and some hate some (like addressing Climate Change for example) of it, but most just don't care one way or the other.
What unites them against it is their idea of how it will be paid for: taxing the rich. That is always the sticking point for conservatives. Always. Conservatives stand for two things in the end: no regulations on business and low taxes for the rich. Especially low taxes for the rich. That's why there even are conservative politicians, whichever party they're in: hirelings of the rich.
All this back and forth on Build Back Better was a big waste of time because no Republicans and neither Manchin nor Sinema would ever vote to raise taxes on the rich. Remember, the next time the DSCC or DCCC asks you to vote for-- let alone donate to-- one of their shitty conservative candidates or incumbents. This ActBlue page, by the way, has one goal: to replace crap conservatives in the Democratic Party-- Blue Dogs-- with progressives. THESE are candidates you should be supporting! Another by the way-- this is the dishonest, twisted ad the Chamber of Commerce started running today as a reward to Manchin for killing Build Back Better:
Basically, in real life, Build Back Better died when all House Democrats-- except these six heroes-- stopped holding the line and trusted Pelosi and Biden and voted for Manchin's and Sinema's shitty "infrastructure" bill without getting them to simultaneously vote for Build Back Better, a strategy that at least had a chance. Trusting conservatives never has a chance-- N.E.V.E.R.
This morning Alexander Bolton reported that "Democratic senators now concede there is no chance of passing the Build Back Better Act before the end of the year." It suggests that the whole "bill will have to be reworked to accommodate Manchin's opposition to including a [even a measly] one-year extension of the expanded child tax credit in the bill." But that's just more bullshit since Manchin will never agree to taxing the rich.
Obviously, Manchin (and his tail, Kyrsten from Arizona) had no problem whatsoever in voting for the incredibly bloated Pentagon budget, which adds to the deficit far more than Build Back Better might. So what does accommodating Manchin mean in practical terms?
The 10-year extension of the tax credit would cost about $1.5 trillion, but Manchin also wants to keep the overall cost of the bill at $1.75 trillion.
That means there would be little room for other Democratic priorities in the legislation, such as long-term home health care, generous child care subsidies, expanded Medicare benefits, universal prekindergarten and raising the cap on state and local tax deductions.
...Durbin said he was “stunned” to learn of Manchin’s last-minute opposition to a one-year extension of the child tax credit, which many Democrats saw as the core component of the bill.
“I was stunned by that,” Durbin said on Thursday when asked about Manchin’s opposition to including a short-term extension of the beefed-up child tax credit. “That is such a critical element-- the largest tax cut for working Americans in the history of the United States. We were so proud of what we accomplished there, and for this to come up as an issue toward the end was stunning.”
He cautioned that jettisoning the provision would face staunch opposition, noting “the level of emotion in our caucus about that child tax credit is very high.”
Democrats will discuss what next steps to take on Biden’s climate and social spending agenda at a lunch meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
But there’s no clear path forward, because Manchin has made it clear that he’s not eager to pass the bill anytime soon and has thrown up various objections to different elements of the bill.
“Apparently, Manchin’s approach to this has changed a lot. I don’t know where he is today or where he’ll be tomorrow,” Durbin said.
Schumer provided little guidance when he addressed the Senate Thursday morning, mentioning Build Back Better only briefly and shifting focus to another key Democratic priority, voting rights legislation.
Republicans, meanwhile, are taking a victory lap and predicting that Build Back Better is dead in its current form.
As far as the voting public goes, the Build Back Better components are very popular. (New polling out today.) Let me offer a some polling data spanning the last few months on taxing the rich from a variety of sources but that all come to the same conclusion: taxing the rich is VERY popular-- which is why scumbags like Lindsay Graham, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema never say that that's what they really oppose.
As for West Virginia voters...
