January 2022

Build Back Better Legislation Stalls

As Labor went to press December 20, news broke that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin would not vote for President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation. While many progressive Democrats expressed outrage that Sen. Manchin had dealt a potentially fatal blow to the legislation that is central to President Joe Biden’s agenda, others held out hope that the bill, or key parts of it, could still advance in early 2022.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders called for a vote on the bill to force Manchin to, “explain to West Virginians and the American people why he doesn’t have the courage to stand up to powerful special interests and lower prescription drug costs; expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and eyeglasses; continue the $300 per child direct monthly payment which has cut childhood poverty by over 40 percent; and address the devastating impacts of climate change. He should also have to explain why he is not prepared to demand that millionaires and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes.”

A December 19 statement from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki noted that, “Senator Manchin’s comments this morning on FOX are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances. Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the President … to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced. Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework ‘in good faith.’” Psaki noted that Manchin had submitted his own outline for a Build Back Better bill and promised to continue conversations. “Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word,” Psaki said.

While the AFL-CIO had not yet responded to Manchin’s pronouncement at press time, West Virginia AFL-CIO President Josh Sword issued a statement Dec. 20, noting that, “Throughout Joe Manchin’s tenure in public service he has brought opposing parties together to reach compromises on the most controversial of measures, and while he has said he would vote against the Build Back Better Act in its current form, it is our hope that he will continue to negotiate with other national leaders in Washington on the legislation, which would help workers, our families and the labor movement both across the country and right here in West Virginia.”

Sword said, “The critical relief the Act would provide on the cost of health and child care has been repeatedly noted, but just as importantly, this legislation preserves the strained Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which provides benefits to thousands of coal miners who suffer from the disease; contains groundbreaking labor enforcement provisions guaranteeing workers’ basic right to organize and bargain collectively by applying civil monetary penalties on employers that commit serious unfair labor practices (provisions from the PRO Act, of which Senator Manchin is a co-sponsor); creates and improves jobs for home care workers, while expanding access to affordable home and community care for seniors and those disabled; and includes Sen. Manchin’s ‘American Jobs in Energy Manufacturing Act,’ which will invest $4 billion in coal communities to attract manufacturing companies that will provide good-paying, union jobs. The West Virginia AFL-CIO knows, and Senator Manchin should know, how important those provisions are to West Virginians and that’s why he should get back to the table and continue to be part of the discussions.”

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts also issued a statement acknowledging the union’s “long and friendly relationship” with the Senator, noting that, “He has been at our side as we have worked to preserve coal miners’ jobs in a changing energy marketplace, and we appreciate that very much.”

Roberts said, “The Build Back Better legislation includes several items that we believe are important for our members and their communities—some of which are part of the UMWA’s Principles for Energy Transition we laid out last spring. The bill includes language that will provide tax incentives to encourage manufacturers to build facilities in the coalfields that would employ thousands of coal miners who have lost their jobs. We support that and are ready to help supply those plants with a trained, professional workforce. But now the potential for those jobs is significantly threatened.”
The UMWA urged Senator Manchin to “revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families, and their communities.”

Roberts also reiterated UMWA’s support for the passage of voting rights legislation as soon as possible. “Anti-democracy legislators and their allies are working every day to roll back the right to vote in America,” Roberts said. “Failure by the Senate to stand up to that is unacceptable and a dereliction of their duty to the Constitution.”

- Paul Burton