Joe Manchin declared Sunday that he could not support President Joe Biden’s sweeping social and climate spending bill, striking a decisive blow to Democrats' agenda.

The West Virginia Democrat bluntly said he is a “no” on the $1.7 trillion in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

“If I can’t go home and explain 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,” Manchin said. “This is a no on this piece of legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.”

In announcing his opposition, Manchin raised the same concerns about the bill that he’s had all along: inflation, rising debt and a mismatch between the package’s 10-year funding and its shorter-term programs. But until Sunday, Manchin had never taken a hard line on the legislation. In the past week, he’s spoken directly to Biden several times, with the president and other Democrats furiously lobbying him to support the bill.

With an evenly split Senate, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer needs every Democrat to go along with the legislation, which only requires a simple majority vote. That dynamic gives Manchin enormous leverage over Biden's agenda, allowing him to single-handedly sink a priority that Democrats have spent much of the year working on.

Manchin’s rollout on Fox News infuriated Democrats Sunday morning. While the centrist senator’s staff informed White House and Democratic aides about his forthcoming blow to Biden’s agenda, some Democrats were steamed that Manchin himself hadn’t called Biden or Schumer.

"Manchin didn't have the courage to call the White House or Democratic leadership himself ahead of time,” fumed one Democrat familiar with internal conversations.

At the same time, Biden's Thursday's statement, which name-checked Manchin and asked for more time to negotiate on the sweeping bill, irked the West Virginia Democrat. Manchin said afterward: "It's his statement, not mine."

Manchin’s clear pronouncement that he opposes the legislation is a huge setback for Democrats, who tried to separate out Biden’s agenda into two bills to pass his jobs and families plan. Now, Manchin’s bipartisan infrastructure bill is law but the party-line effort to pour money into education, health care, climate change and tax reform is dead in its current form.

The White House’s frustration level with Manchin grew dramatically in recent days after Manchin and Biden’s telephone negotiations went nowhere. Biden has always gotten along personally with the senator and has long believed he should not push his former colleagues. Plus, White House aides were comfortable — if not delighted — with the party-line bill slipping into early 2022.

The West Wing saw Manchin's Sunday comments as a shocking about-face — White House officials believed he had been sending signals that a deal could eventually be struck. It comes as Biden ends 2021 facing a confluence of crises: Covid cases are surging throughout the nation, inflation remains high heading into the holidays, a renewed push on voting rights already seems stalled and now the signature piece of Biden’s agenda is in grave danger.

It also undermines Biden’s central political arguments to the American people: that he could make government work again, that it's possible to deliver huge, significant changes to societal norms that impact Americans of middle and lower incomes. But now, even though his own party holds all branches of government, his agenda is in jeopardy.

Manchin’s position is a validation of progressive fears — they believed passing that infrastructure bill was a mistake without an explicit guarantee from all 50 Democratic senators to support the rest of Biden’s agenda. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday he “absolutely” wants to see a vote on the legislation.

“We’ve been dealing with Mr. Manchin for month after month after month,” Sanders said on CNN’s "State of the Union." “Let him vote no in front of the whole world.”

In his TV appearance, Manchin said he would be fine voting on the bill.

If the bill ever comes to the floor, it won’t be for a few weeks. The Senate left town on Saturday morning for the holidays and won’t return until early January.

That means the Democrats’ expanded child tax credit will expire at the end of this month. Manchin disliked that the credit would only be extended by a year in the House-passed spending bill, even though most Democrats assume the party will keep trying to extend it permanently.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/19/manchin-says-he-wont-support-bidens-social-spending-bill-525458

So glad Rockstar is getting shit on for this lazy remaster, enough with their shit. But time will pass and people will still talk themselves into buying the same game (GTAV) for the 3rd time in a 3rd console because "I need my GTA fix".

Did they improved the controls for San Andreas? More like GTA V less like the original?

How about the camera when driving? Shooting?

I think it would be a mistake to reduce Youngkin's win in Virginia and their good night overall, to just Critical Race Theory.