U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Joe Manchin are striking entirely different tones when it comes to President Biden’s Build Back Better Broke bill.
Bennet called on the Senate Monday to pass Biden’s $1.75 trillion spending bill as soon as possible.
Over 1 million kids in Colorado are benefiting from the #ChildTaxCredit expansion. We cannot let them down.
We have to pass #BuildBackBetter ASAP to ensure families continue to receive their monthly payments in 2022. https://t.co/UEsKs0xL32
— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) December 6, 2021
BBB awaits action in the Senate after passing the House with unanimous support from Democrats, including the now-vulnerable U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter.
Manchin, meanwhile, continues to express reservations about the size and timing of the $1.75 trillion spending bill.
Manchin and Arizona U.S. Sen. Krysten Sinema appear to be the two lone voices of reason within the Senate Democrat caucus on the matter.
Manchin explicitly rejected the White House’s argument that the BBB bill would help “control” surging inflation, and rebuffed Bennet’s call to pass the bill “ASAP.”
Manchin not wedded to Xmas deadline but it’s clear it’s a heavy lift to get his backing by then. “I’m not skeptical. I'm just basically a realist. There's an awful lot there and a lot of changes to be done and you're throwing it at a time when it's very vulnerable in our economy”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 6, 2021
The spending in the $1.75 trillion bill is largely front-loaded, meaning hundreds of billions would be injected into the economy at a time of unprecedented price increases.
It doesn’t take a degree in economics to understand putting that much money into the economy over a short period of time is a surefire way to send prices even higher.
Bennet might cite extending the Child Tax Credit is a means to combat inflation and argue BBB is paid for through tax increases, but even some liberals aren’t buying that argument.
As Ben Ritz of the Progressive Policy Institute recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal:
Some economists argue that the BBB bill will actually combat inflation. Child-care subsidies and other social supports, for instance, might make it easier for more parents to return to the labor force. Although that’s true to some extent, it’s unlikely to override the effect of pumping $200 billion of new deficit-financed stimulus into the economy each year. Importantly, the 17 Nobel laureates who signed a much-touted letter saying BBB would “reduce long-term inflationary pressure” did so at a time when they thought the bill would be fully paid for by higher taxes on the wealthy.
Bennet’s break with Manchin over the BBB bill is hardly the first instance of Colorado’s allegedly moderate senator avoiding questions over the threat of inflation.
After recent data showed accelerating October prices, Manchin sounded the alarm and called on Congress to pause consideration of the BBB bill.
By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not “transitory” and is instead getting worse. From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) November 10, 2021
Bennet, by contrast, refused to comment on the data which showed prices accelerating at the fastest pace since 1990.
Offices for Cortez Masto, Kelly, Hassan and Bennet did not respond to those questions. None acknowledged the unexpectedly high inflation numbers from Wednesday in any official statement or social media post.
In all likelihood, Bennet understands he, along with other vulnerable Democrats, don’t really have a good hand to play here.
This is especially true because Democrats are planning to run on the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill they passed last spring.
However, that bill is also being blamed by some notable Democrats including former Obama advisor Steven Rattner for fueling the inflation the economy is experiencing today.
The original sin was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, passed in March. The bill — almost completely unfunded — sought to counter the effects of the Covid pandemic by focusing on demand-side stimulus rather than on investment. That has contributed materially to today’s inflation levels.
In other words, Democrats like Bennet appear to have calculated they are up a creek without a paddle.
Since they are responsible for the “original sin” of making groceries and gas more expensive, their only option is to hope voters reward Democrats for throwing even more fuel on the fire in the form of Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending (socialist) bill.
Early indications are that may not work out well for Democrats next year.
57% of Americans blamed Biden for inflation in a recent poll, while some Democrats in Congress told Politico they fear voters might not even give their party credit if they pass the $1.75 trillion bill.
Still, some fret that even if they do pass Biden’s marquee agenda item — the $1.7 trillion climate and social policy bill — it won’t bring the big bump at the polls that Democrats are hoping for.
That’s hardly an unreasonable concern considering BBB is funded by hundreds of billions of deficits and higher taxes on businesses, policies that in tandem will invariably send prices higher.
With Biden underwater in states like Colorado that he carried double-digits just a year ago, Bennet’s refusal to stand up for fiscal sanity should have him worried about next fall’s midterm elections.