Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters on Thursday that talks over the Biden administration's "Build Back Better" Act would start ''from scratch'' in another blow to the president's climate and social spending plan, The Hill reported.
''We're going to start with a clean sheet of paper and start over,'' Manchin said. He added that his previous $1.8 trillion offer to the White House was no longer available.
We'll ''just be starting from scratch,'' he said.
Manchin said he was primarily concerned about forwarding legislation focused on tackling inflation and the rise of the COVID-19 omicron variant.
''The main thing we need to do is take care of the inflation. Get your financial house in order. Get a tax code that works,'' Manchin said. ''We can do a lot of good things. ... But get your financial house in order. Get this inflation down. Get COVID out of the way, and then we'll be rolling.''
President Joe Biden conceded earlier this week that "Build Back Better" was most likely going to be broken up, according to The Hill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., downplayed the change of pace from Biden to reporters on Thursday.
''What the president calls 'chunks' I would hope would be a major bill going forward. It may be more limited, but it is still significant,'' Pelosi said.
Manchin also responded to criticism about his vote against changes to the Senate filibuster on Wednesday to pass Democratic voting legislation.
''First of all, I think everyone should be respectful that we have a 50-50 [Senate]. ... I think I've been more than considerate on the things that I've been, and where I can't, I've been telling them from day one. They knew exactly,'' Manchin said.
''I'm not a Washington Democrat, so the base they have is a different base than I have,'' he added.
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