President Joe Biden, Congressman Tom Reed
President Joe Biden said he will likely have to break up his Build Back Better Act that invests in social programs and climate policy. Biden, in his first official press conference of the year, said he believes Congress can still pass parts of it.
Biden’s signature proposal hit a wall in December after Senator Joe Manchin said he would not vote for it. Every Senate Democrat would need to back the $1.75 trillion House-passed bill for it to get to Biden’s desk and become law.
Biden said he believes he can win support for more than $500 billion in spending to combat climate change.
He also noted that Manchin supports early childhood education, a nod to the bill’s universal pre-K provision.
Democrats including Manchin have indicated they would revive the proposal in some form. Biden on Wednesday gave his clearest signal yet that he would embrace a smaller version of the plan.
Every Republican in Congress has opposed the package, arguing it would worsen the worst inflation the U.S. has seen in decades.
Congressman Tom Reed, in his first weekly media conference in nearly a year, said there are probably individual sections of the Build Back Better law that could get bipartisan support, “But the problem is, is the Build Back Better bill has been so contaminated with partisan politics right now. It’s going to be very difficult if something directly comes out of Build Back Better contaminated with that brand input that it will carry with it.”
Reed said any policy would have to be independently presented and developed outside of the Build Back Better framework to gain support.
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