The Washington Post reported that Senator Joe Manchin's $1.8 trillion spending offer to the White House in late 2021 appears to have been put on the table after a breakdown between the Democratic lawmaker from West Virginia and the White House.
Manchin told reporters this week that he is no longer involved in discussions with the White House and has signaled privately that he is not interested in approving legislation like President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Package, a report said. Three people with knowledge of the matter said that he was not interested in approving any legislation like President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Package.
Manchin's office didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.
Biden has a lot of domestic priorities and it is one of his signature domestic priorities. Manchin's vote is critical in the evenly divided Senate. In December, his opposition torpedoed Build Back Better, drawing ire from Democratic progressives, and sending the political party scrambling to find a way to resurrect the package.
The plan includes funding for high priority issues for many Americans, including free preschool, support for soaring childcare costs, coverage of home-care costs for the elderly and expansion of free school meals.
According to the Washington Post, Manchin spoke with a number of officials and others seeking to gain his support for the legislation, including senior White House aide Steve Ricchetti, Larry Kudlow, former economic adviser to the ex-President Donald Trump and Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah.