"On Tuesday of this week, Senator Manchin came to the White House and submitted—to the President, in person, directly—a written outline for a Build Back Better bill that was the same size and scope as the President’s framework, and covered many of the same priorities. While that framework was missing key priorities, we believed it could lead to a compromise acceptable to all. Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground. 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."
-- Statement from Press Secretary Jen Psaki, December 19, 2021
I can't recall ever seeing a statement from a Democratic White House regarding a Democratic Senator that approaches Jen Psaki's rebuke of Joe Manchin, who gave an emphatic thumbs down to Build Back Better on Fox News this morning. It attests to his bad faith, knocks down specious arguments, and makes clear -- not in a paragraph or two, but in a critique stretching nearly two pages -- that Manchin went back on his word to the President of the United States.
The immediate consequence is that President Biden's signature legislative initiative is dead.
I've given the senator the benefit of the doubt for many months. Joe Biden received 29.69% of the vote in 2020 in West Virginia. That a Democrat represents the state in the U.S. Senate is as anomalous as the election of two Georgia Democrats to the chamber in 2021. Manchin has been a Democrat throughout his career. If his vote ever killed a critical initiative of a previous Democratic president, I can't recall it. (Though perhaps that's because it is rare to have a50-50 Senate.) For all the qualms and qualifications, inconsistencies and departures from the facts that he has voiced in 2021 regarding BBB, he pledged to do all he could to reach an accord -- as recently as this week in the White House.
This morning he went back on his word.
Reading the tea leaves
[Revised:] At this point in my initial post, I offered observations -- centered on Mitch McConnell -- on the possibility of Joe Manchin switching parties. Long story short: McConnell as majority leader (though he is among the few Republicans in Washington who will acknowledge Trump's 2020 defeat) would be a setback for democratic governance. I've decided that this is a theme better explored in future posts than at this juncture.
I'll add (regarding the prospects for American democracy) that the success of the Democratic Party, which is committed to (small-d) democratic principles, the rule of law, free and fair elections, majority rule, and the peaceful transition of power, is the only check on the GOP, which has become openly authoritarian. Agreement between Biden and Manchin would advance the interests of Democrats and democrats (and might lead to the resurrection of BBB).