Senate Democrats will not pass the Build Back Better Act until 2022, following a collapse in negotiations between President Joe Biden and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, multiple outlets reported.
Talks between Biden and Manchin broke down over a child tax credit extension, CNN’s Manu Raju reported. The Build Back Better Act would have extended the $3,600 credit for young children, and $3,000 credit for children ages 6-17 included in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) through 2022, and would not have included a work requirement. Manchin supported the work requirement, while Biden and House Democrats opposed it.
Talks between Manchin and Biden are NOT going well on Build Back Better, per source familiar with talks. A huge sticking point: the Child Tax Credit. Manchin wants it cut. Source says he wants to “zero it out.” They are “very far apart,” source says.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 15, 2021
Without an extension of the ARP’s child tax credit, the benefit will revert to the $2,000 credit included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That credit will expire in 2025. (RELATED: ‘I’m Comfortable With Zero’: Manchin Reportedly Willing To Tank Reconciliation To Avoid Overspending)
Although the Build Back Better Act would only extend the child tax credit through 2022, many Democrats have called for it to be made permanent. If made permanent, the expanded credit would cost American taxpayers nearly $1.6 trillion over a ten-year period, an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office found.
Manchin also expressed concerns about inflation, following the release of data showing that price increases have hit a 39-year high. After the senator described the numbers as “alarming,” Biden expressed pessimism that he could convince Manchin to support the social spending package.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Biden said on Dec. 10 when asked about Manchin’s support. “I’m going to be talking to him at the beginning of the week.”
Biden and Manchin spoke on Monday, but the two were unable to reach an agreement. Some Democrats had expressed frustration with Manchin’s ongoing negotiations, arguing that he should just vote on the bill.
“I think it is appropriate for him to finally come to a conclusion as to what he will accept,” Illinois Sen. and Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Wednesday morning. “Let’s go home to our families. Let’s get our job done.”
Democrats will now turn their attention to election law changes, NBC News reported. Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock has repeatedly urged the upper chamber to take up elections legislation. The latest bill under consideration, the Freedom to Vote Act, would make election day a federal holiday and require automatic registration nationwide. It eliminates an unpopular provision from the For the People Act that banned voter identification requirements.
The Freedom to Vote Act is unlikely to pass the Senate, however, with no Republicans expected to support the legislation.
The bill “subverts the First Amendment to supercharge cancel culture and the left’s name-and-shame campaign model. It takes redistricting away from state legislatures and hands it over to computers,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
Warnock has pushed Democrats to create a filibuster carve-out that would prevent Republicans from using the maneuver on laws impacting elections, but Manchin has opposed such a change absent Republican involvement.