The White House says the “substance and details” of a report on the Biden administration’s Build Back Better bill are “off base.”
Reuters penned an article titled, “How the White House hopes to save Biden’s spending bill.”
The report claimed the administration is “preparing an alternative to its $1.75 trillion spending bill that will keep climate change measures but pare down or cut items like the child tax credit and paid family leave, hoping to appeal to U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and other Democrats as soon as this week,” citing two individuals working on the plan.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded to the report, saying, “We are always in touch with members about this, and the substance and details of this report are off base.”
WH spokesman @AndrewJBates46 says there's no trimmed down version of BBB that the administration will propose to Congress as soon as this week: "We are always in touch with members about this, and the substance and details of this report are off base." https://t.co/cCiyBmP4nK
— Jenny Leonard (@jendeben) January 18, 2022
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan he is aware that the most recent version of the bill is dead, as IJR reported.
“If you look at the core of the bill, I think the core is education and workforce and things like reduced childcare and education expenses, workforce training, and then support for the workforce in areas like healthcare,” Kaine said.
He added, “There are other pieces of the bill that are more controversial. I still believe we’re going to find the core of this bill. Whatever we call it, we’re going to find the core of the bill and pass it. And it will deal directly with some of these inflation concerns.”
Manchin essentially killed the bill when he announced he could not support it.
“There is no negotiations going on at this time,” Manchin said earlier this month.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters he talked to Manchin “numerous times” while the Senate was on its holiday break.
“Most of the discussions were on voting rights, but we did touch on BBB and I believe the Biden administration will be having discussions with Manchin with his cooperation and participation on BBB as we move forward,” Schumer said.
