by Del. Mike Pushkin
Much political hay has been made about the opposition of both Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito to the current draft of President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” act.
Earlier this week, discussions between Manchin and the president appeared to reach an impasse — and it looks increasingly certain “Build Back Better” will be punted into 2022. Politico went so far as to say, at this point, “their discussions have gone so poorly that they’re straining their friendly relationship.”
Manchin’s desire to take things slow isn’t a total mystery. In a state where one poll showed that two-thirds of voters believe the president’s signature legislation could “make inflation worse” — and a slightly larger share believe Congress has the obligation to “slow down and get the Build Back Better act right” — it is smart that both he and Sen. Capito are pausing to listen to their constituents’ concerns.
Inflation remains a top worry for voters, not only in West Virginia, but across the country. With the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the consumer price index increasing year-over-year at the fastest pace in nearly four decades, it makes sense the senators would want to thoughtfully consider the impact of such a massive bill.
Democrats insist, rightly, that Build Back Better is not only paid for, but will actually reduce the deficit by $112.5 billion over 10 years. Meanwhile, the independent Congressional Budget Office’s scoring of the legislation concluded last month the bill would “result in a net increase in the deficit totaling $367 billion over the 2022-31 period.” (A second CBO number — generated at the behest of congressional Republicans using questionable assumptions to arrive at a so-called score for an imaginary bill — was just recently revealed as less palatable and is being flatly rejected by leading Democrats.)
Remember also that Build Back Better has already passed in the House of Representatives; the Senate remains the final hurdle. Democrats are so confident in the merits of the legislation that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin authored a memo in advance of the second CBO number and addressed it directly to members of the U.S. Senate. The subject line couldn’t have been more direct: “Fiscal Responsibility and the Build Back Better Act.”
The secretary’s memo states plainly that the second CBO number “should not be confused with a score of the Build Back Better Act, which was already released. Instead, this analysis is of a bill that the House did not pass, the Senate is not considering, and the President — who has committed to paying for permanent investment — would not sign.”
Sec. Yellin lays out four key points in an effort to allay the Senate’s fiscal concerns about passage of Build Back Better: The bill is fully paid for this decade; it will generate approximately $2 trillion in deficit reduction in the second decade after passage; the second number provided by CBO is an “inappropriate” metric, given that it makes assumptions about the to-be-determined actions of future Congresses; and, finally, that the bill “is a fully offset decade-long investment that will not add to near-term inflationary pressures.”
I fear this information has not made it directly to West Virginians, who are rightly concerned about rising prices.
In the new year, Manchin will be in a unique position to speak not only to the benefits of the bill — including expanded electric vehicle tax credits that signal support for West Virginia’s 72,000-strong union labor force; universal preschool, child care for working families, lower prescription drug prices, paid family and medical leave; and long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities — but to also address the legitimate economic concerns of hardworking West Virginian families.
West Virginians should know their representatives hear them when it comes to the spectre of near-term inflation. West Virginia senators should know that, as the Senate considers this bill into 2022, they have an obligation to provide constituents the facts about Build Back Better’s benefits.
