Washington (NEXSTAR) — President Joe Biden is already looking ahead to his second year in office, saying he still believes he can close the deal on his Build Back Better plan.
While some Democrats are angry and want to move ahead with voting on the plan as is — to force Sen. Joe Manchin to vote against it on the record — Biden isn’t giving up on his nearly $2 trillion climate change and social investment plan.
“Senator Manchin and I are going to get something done,” he said.
On Tuesday, he got passionate when talking about how the plan would help families afford things like life-saving medications.
“Imagine being a parent, looking at their child, and you can’t afford, you have no house to borrow against, you have no savings — it’s wrong,” Biden said.
The president said his proposal will help lower bills for families in various ways.
“Childcare — we can reduce it by 70%,” he said.
According to Biden, more affordable childcare will help millions of women return to the workforce — but those arguments so far have failed to convince the Democrat from West Virginia who says the plan could make inflation worse.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va). “I just can’t.”
On Sunday, Manchin tanked the idea of passing the current version of the plan. Manchin wants the bill to go through a more regular legislative process, while smaller and more targeted.
Biden is pushing back on the idea that passing the BBB plan would make inflation worse.
“Goldman Sachs and others said if we don’t pass Build Back Better, we’re in trouble, because it’s going to grow the economy,” Biden claimed. “Without it, we’re not going to grow.”