Rep. Cori Bush spoke out after her Democratic colleague in the Senate said he would not support the infrastructure bill currently stalled in Congress.
"Joe Manchin does not get to dictate the future of the country," Bush said in a statement after Manchin publicly came out Monday (November 1) to say he would not support the latest iteration of a $1.75 trillion spending package Democrats hoped to vote on this week.
"I do not trust his assessment of what our communities need the most. I trust the parents in my district who can't get to their shift without childcare. I trust the scientists who have shown us what our future will look like if we fail to meaningfully address the climate crisis. I trust the patients and doctors crying out for more comprehensive health coverage for every person in America," the Missouri congresswoman said.
She added that Manchin's opposition to the spending package is "anti-Black, anti-child, anti-woman and anti-immigrant. "Sen. Manchin must support the Build Back Better Act."
Manchin's opposition to the bill hasn't only backed things up in Congress, his reasoning seems a bit nonsensical.
Sources told The Washington Post that Manchin wanted to build in work requirements in order for people to access the paid family leave program provided in the spending package. The problem? You have to have a job in order to take paid family leave in the first place.
Manchin, a Democrat representing West Virginia, has dug his heels in on opposing the spending bill for months. The price tag has fallen by several trillion dollars, a move that Bush says cuts out the marginalized communities who need it the most.
"Black, brown, and Indigenous communities are overwhelming excluded from the bipartisan infrastructure bill," Bush said.
Manchin vowed Monday (November 1) that he wouldn't vote on it until he had an "understanding the impact it will have on our national debt."
Though it passed in the Senate, the bill remains in limbo as Democrats scramble to meet in the middle and get a final draft passed in both chambers.
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