President Joe Biden has accused West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin of backing his financial agenda during a crucial meeting in December, according to a new Rolling Stone report. The high-risk meeting took place as the couple negotiated Biden’s $ 2 trillion spending plan to bolster the best spending. At a December 14 meeting at the White House, Biden criticized Mancin for withdrawing from a previous commitment to support the extended package, two anonymous sources told Rolling Stone. The president spent months flirting with Manchin in successive meetings until the fall. A Manchin spokesman told Rolling Stone that “this meeting was not a good account” without elaborating. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Senate Democrats quickly turned away from the Christmas deadline imposed on themselves to pass the social and climate bill, and instead began a final push to pass voting rights legislation. Then, on December 19, Mancin opposed the House bill, provoking an angry White House statement accusing the conservative West Virginia Democrat of halting talks with a “sudden and inexplicable overthrow.” Manchin had never publicly pledged to support the House bill. He often criticized her for trying to create a series of temporary programs, saying that this covered her real costs. His resistance sank a plan to raise large sums of money for child care, health care, parental controls and clean energy. Without his vote, Democrats could not send the bill to Biden’s office because of unified Republican resistance. It has since stalled in the 50-50 Senate, while Manchin has focused on other priorities, such as electoral reform. Senate Democrats plan to try to win Manchin once again over a lower-cost bill that focuses on cutting prescription drug costs, reducing the deficit and raising taxes on wealthier Americans. Manchin set a summer deadline to pass a bill without committing to it. Some in the party remain skeptical that Manchin could be influenced by another bill, even if it exerts a huge influence on its size and scope. “I reject the idea that we should look at Joe Mancin as the oracle for what is best for America,” New York spokesman Ritchie Torres told Politico. “He is the saboteur of the Build Back Better Act, so I see no point in appeasing the ruthless. I find it difficult to understand the political logic there.”
