White House Journos Press Psaki on Manchin’s Opposition to Build Back Better: ‘Does the President Feel Betrayed by His Friend?’
The White House press corps expressed concern on Monday over Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) announcement that he opposed President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, peppering press secretary Jen Psaki with questions that included whether Biden felt “betrayed by his friend.”
Asked whether Manchin’s weekend announcement came because of irreconcilable differences over the plan’s child tax credit or another issue, Psaki demurred. “From the president’s viewpoint, he’s worked with Sen. Manchin over the course of decades,” she told reporters, saying they shared “fundamental values” and were “long-time friends.”
“What’s most on the president’s mind is the risk of inaction,” she added. “And if we do not act to get this legislation done and the components in it, not only will costs and prices go up for the American people, we will see a trajectory of economic growth that is not where we want it to be.”
Following up, a reporter asked, “Does the president feel betrayed by his friend?”
“I think our statement yesterday made pretty clear what we feel was the factual depiction of events that happened,” before emphasizing once more that the president and Manchin were “friends.”
Manchin took a slightly different tone in a radio interview earlier in the day. “I knew what they could and could not do,” he said, referring to the White House staffers involved with Biden’s spending plan. “They just never realized it, because they figured, ‘Surely to God we can move one person, surely we can badger and beat one person up, surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough.’ … Well, guess what? I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from, and the can just beat the living crap out of people and they’re going to be submissive.”
“They know the real reason [for] what happened,” he added. “They won’t tell you and I’m not going to. ”
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