Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham celebrated the stalemate in Senate negotiations over the Biden administration’s $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” social spending package, saying that he thinks the bill is “dead forever.”
Speaking with Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday night, Graham said that the deadlock between moderate Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and fellow Senate Democrats over the cost of the proposed legislation has effectively scrapped the bill.
“I think Build Back Better is dead forever and let me tell you why: Because Joe Manchin has said he’s not going to vote for a bill that will add to the deficit,” Graham said. “Well, if you do away with the budget gimmicks, Build Back Better, according to the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] adds $3 trillion to the deficit. He doesn’t want to vote for a bill that makes inflation worse.”
Graham then went on to attack the “Build Back Better” bill’s child care provisions for denying federal funds to religious daycare centers and for allegedly increasing the costs of child care, despite the Biden administration’s repeated claims that “Build Back Better” would lower costs.
“[O]ne thing we haven’t talked about tonight that was mentioned today, the child care provisions in Build Back Better prohibit religious institutions from receiving money,” Graham told Hannity. “So, if you’ve got a child in a religious institution providing child care, you will not be eligible for money from the government because that child goes to a religious institution. It [also] increases the wages of child care providers, to the point that the average family will have to spend $13,000 more, because this is a federal takeover of child care, it’s declaring war on religious institutions, it’s $5 trillion dollars not $1.75, it’s an inflation bomb, and at the end of the day, Joe Manchin has promised the people of West Virginia, ‘I will not vote for a bill that adds to the deficit that’s full of gimmicks,’ so I think [it] is dead forever.”
“The CBO and the inflation number last Friday, I think, kill Build Back Better. They were trying to pass a lie, and God bless Joe Manchin for sticking to his guns,” Graham added.
The Daily Wire reported Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tabled the “Build Back Better” bill for at least the rest of the year because of the deadlock:
“[Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)] is likely to push a vote on the Build Back Better plan until next year, according to four sources familiar with the leaders’ plans,” NBC News reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell said.
“He doesn’t have the votes as [Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)] remains noncommittal,” Caldwell continued. “Schumer is still holding out hope for action on voting rights this year, multiple sources tell us. They are hoping for agreement on a rules change between four moderates who have been meeting,” she added, referring to Manchin and Sens. Jon Tester (D-MO), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME)…
Manchin had previously made his concerns known. In a press gaggle inside the Capitol building on Monday, Manchin told reporters he wanted the bill to be cut even further, with Democrats selecting their highest priorities and funding them over the full 10-year life of the bill, rather than the short-term funding plans currently in the bill, while maintaining the $1.75 trillion price tag.
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Source: Dailywire
