Sen. Joe Manchin III is looking to make amends with his party for standing against Biden’s Build Back Better, says he will gut Trump-era tax cuts.
QUICK FACTS:
- Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says he will do away with the Trump administration’s tax cuts, just after the senator was the deciding vote against the Biden administration’s social spending plan, according to The Washington Times.
- Manchin became the subject of intense frustration after he voted against his party and President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act after repeatedly telling his colleagues he couldn’t get behind what it would mean for his state.
- The West Virginia Democrat may not have wanted Build Back Better, but he also doesn’t want the 2017 Trump tax cuts, saying it allows too many cuts that are a “giveaway to the rich.”
- Manchin says that the only reason he voted to advance Build Back Better through its Senate paces was to “fix the tax [system] so that everybody paid their fair share” and that “ultra-wealthy” corporations “weren’t paying anything.”
- The 2017 tax cuts were passed by the then-Republican-held Senate with no support from Democrats.
MORE ABOUT BUILD BACK BETTER:
- One key issue for Manchin has been his state’s interest in energy, and BBB was a framework that is set up to “meet its climate goals.”
- According to the White House’s official statement about BBB, the $1.75 trillion spending plan program would have offered a number of other programs universally, which would have needed the budgetary allowances to account for all potential participants.
- Included in the program’s offerings were universal preschool for 3-4 year-olds, affordable elder care for those aging or with disabilities, and a continuation of monthly Child Tax Credits.
BACKGROUND:
- Manchin is widely considered the Democratic swing vote, allowing Republicans some hope that all the majority party’s plans won’t have the needed support.
- House minority leader Mitch McConnell has “openly” attempted to recruit Manchin for the GOP, telling him if he switched parties he would be “joining a lot of folks who have similar views on a whole range of issues,” according to ABC News.
- Were Manchin to change parties it would not only be just one vote for Republicans, but it would give the GOP control of the House again, allowing them more power to control bills coming through their chamber.
