U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet tweets nonstop about a temporary social welfare gimmick he takes credit for devising that was used during the COVID shutdowns to help American families struggling in poverty because they only make $150,000 a year.
Yes, you read that correctly — $150,000 a year.
To hear Bennet tell it, the checks go to children and lifts them out of poverty.
Called the Child Tax Credit, this temporary tax refund was supposed to help those who have kids keep more of the money they earn, but in the form of monthly checks from the federal government.
The more kids you have, the more money a parent got back. And if parents were so poor they don’t even pay taxes, that’s okay because the government would give them someone else’s hard-earned money — also known as the same welfare checks done away with during the Clinton administration.
The gimmick might have been a good idea for short-term, COVID relief, but Bennet is desperate to get reelected and has hung his entire reelection campaign message on his efforts to extend this one social welfare program for an extra year, which just happens to coincide with his reelection.
Bennet’s even more desperate to pass it after the humiliating defeat recently of his precious Colorado Outdoor Recreation Act (CORE) bill.
Enter U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, who to everyone’s relief is blocking President Biden’s Build Back Busted Bill, because the West Virginia Democrat specifically objects to Bennet’s alleged COVID relief that is on the brink of turning into an entitlement program.
Manchin says he doesn’t believe the welfare program will stop after yet another year, and is demanding Democrats be honest with taxpayers and fund the handouts for the first 10 years.
That’s right, 10 years.
Because once Congress agrees to the extension, it will turn into yet another out-of-control entitlement program that will never, ever end. And Manchin knows that.
From CNN:
Asked why not just vote against future extensions of the child tax credit and agree to a one-year extension now, Manchin said: “I want to make sure that we’re upfront, transparent with the public. That’s all.”
But extending the tax credit for the next decade would blow up the price tag and require wholesale changes to a bill that has been negotiated for months. Manchin indicated that if it increases the price tag and they want to keep the child tax credit, Democrats should drop other programs to make it all fit under $1.75 trillion.
“We have $1.75 to work within,” Manchin said. “So pick your priorities and let’s do it.”
The Washington Post is reporting Biden’s bill won’t even pass by Christmas, which Biden promised would happen after it failed to pass by Thanksgiving, which Biden also promised.
Efforts to pass Bennet’s socialist redistribution of wealth as a stand alone bill aren’t faring any better.
Pelosi downplays odds of standalone child tax credit extension https://t.co/j8OpVNZcWv pic.twitter.com/VX2eR5DHac
— The Hill (@thehill) December 15, 2021
For once, Democrats are actually showing some sense and are hesitant to let this horse out of the barn.
Funding Bennet’s proposal for 10 years would add another trillion dollars to the bill that’s already totaling nearly $2 trillion, said Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
“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 during an appearance on Fox News’s “Hannity.”
“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,” he added.
God bless Joe Manchin.