The senator himself was about to go live and was prepping for his interview with BRET BAIER on “Fox News Sunday.” He was out of town with family and doing the hit via satellite, but still had his best Sunday show attire. He wore a red tie and pin-striped suit. His hair looked perfect. It would probably be one of the most viral video clips of his long career.
At the White House, there was panic and disbelief. He sent an aide to tell the president of the United States that he was about to go on Fox News and put a bullet in BBB?
Top White House officials scrambled to call the senator and talk him out of what he was about to do.
“We tried to head him off,” a senior White House official told Playbook, but Manchin “refused to take a call from White House staff.”
At Fox News’ Washington studio, Baier was hosting his first episode of “Fox News Sunday” since CHRIS WALLACE abruptly decamped for CNN+ last weekend. The show’s staff knew how much attention would be on them and how important it was, in the ongoing war between news and opinion at Fox, to prove that the news side still could drive the conversation about the network.
Joe Manchin didn’t give Baier a heads up about the news he was about to break.
There was a long wind up about all the efforts the senator says he’s made:
“Well, Bret, you know, this is a mammoth piece of legislation, and I have had my reservations from the beginning when they heard about it a five and half months ago and I’ve been working diligently every day, every minute of every day, I’ve been working on this, meeting with — whether it’d be the president, President [JOE] BIDEN, whether it’d be Majority Leader [CHUCK] SCHUMER and his staff, whether it would be with NANCY PELOSI, all of my colleagues. I mean, from all different spectrums of the political spectrum, if you will, from the right to the left. I’ve done everything humanly possible.”
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And then a big pivot to his familiar list of concerns about inflation and the debt:
“Where I’m at right now, the inflation that I was concerned about, it’s not transitory; it’s real, it’s harming every West Virginian. It’s making it almost difficult for them to continue, to go to their jobs — the cost of gasoline, the cost of groceries, the cost of utility bills, all of these things are hitting in every aspect of their life.
“And … then you have the debt that we’re carrying, $29 trillion. You have, also, the geopolitical unrest that we have. You have the Covid — the [Omicron] variant — and that is wreaking havoc again, people are concerned. I’ve been with my family, I know everyone is concerned.”
Manchin has said all that before, but then he added the news, a death blow to BBB, which can’t pass without his vote:
“So when you have these things coming at you the way they are right now, I’ve always said this, Bret: If I can't go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can't vote for it. And I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t.
“I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there.”
Sometimes, it’s hard to realize when a typical “talking points” interview suddenly turns into an important moment in history. Baier took a second to process the enormity of what he was being told.
“You’re done? This is — is this a no?”
It was.
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“This is a no on this legislation,” Manchin said, giving Democrats a shred of hope that, if not this, then other legislation could still be crafted to satisfy the West Virginia senator. “I have tried everything I know to do.” Watch the full interview here
In Congress, there was disgust among Democrats. “Manchin didn’t have the courage to call the White House or Democratic leadership himself ahead of time,” said one Democrat familiar with the morning’s drama.
At the White House, the disbelief turned to a sense of betrayal. Last week, Manchin offered the president a proposal “in the $1.75T ball park.” Aides were debating Sunday morning whether they should release the Manchin document or not. “It is in writing,” said the same official. “Listen to what Manchin himself said all week. How many times did he say he ‘did not oppose’ the bill, just wanted to line up programs with pay fors?”
In Congress, among Republican moderates who helped crafted the bipartisan infrastructure bill, there was a sense of victory. “This is vindication for every Republican who supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill,” said a senior GOP aide. “Every Republican who claimed that BIF would pave the way for BBB was flat out wrong. Today doesn’t happen without BIF getting done.”
BBB is dead. The only question is whether some new, more Manchin-shaped bill can be revived that salvages some key pieces of the Biden climate and social policy agenda.
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As of this writing, that seems unlikely. The relationship between the White House and Manchin is deeply frayed.
At noon, the White House released a long statement detailing the history of Manchin’s repeated assurances to the president that he would support some version of BBB that was close to what the rest of his party had negotiated.
“Senator Manchin’s comments this morning on FOX are at odds with his discussions this week with the president, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances,” the statement from JEN PSAKI said. “Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the president, at his home in Wilmington, to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced. Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework ‘in good faith.’
“On Tuesday of this week, Senator Manchin came to the White House and submitted — to the president, in person, directly — a written outline for a Build Back Better bill that was the same size and scope as the president’s framework, and covered many of the same priorities. While that framework was missing key priorities, we believed it could lead to a compromise acceptable to all. Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground. If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”
She added, “Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word.” The full statement
Essentially, Psaki is calling Manchin a liar. Picking up the pieces from here won’t be easy. In fact, one senior Democratic aide texted us minutes after the White House press release came out with this assessment: “Whoever at the White House who thinks it’s a good idea to go scorched earth needs to be fired… He’s the president. He’s supposed to be the adult.” Further reading: “White House lights up Manchin after he crushes Biden's megabill,” by Burgess Everett and Jonathan Lemire
MEANWHILE, IN WEST VIRGINIA — A headline on the homepage of the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Manchin’s hometown paper: “‘We need this so bad’: Build Back Better backers say bill would protect WV’s most vulnerable as Manchin resists”
BERNIE WANTS A VOTE — Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I think he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia to tell him why he doesn’t have the guts to take on the drug companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs, why he is not prepared to expand home health care.”
Sanders also called for the bill to be brought to the floor, regardless of Manchin’s opinions: “We have been dealing with Mr. Manchin for month after month after month. But if he doesn't have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of West Virginia and America, let him vote no in front of the whole world.”
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