THIRD WORLD USA
U.S. families fear hunger after child-tax credit expires
FILE PHOTO: Schumer holds a press conference on the Child Tax Credit payments at the U.S. Capitol in Washington
Mon, December 20, 2021
By Moira Warburton and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The phone calls to Yvonka Hall's health nonprofit in northeastern Ohio from families begging for help feeding their children started in March 2020, and slowed down only when an expanded child tax credit came into effect last summer.
Now, Hall fears the calls will ramp up again as U.S. lawmakers quibble over renewing this program that expired after making final payments on Dec. 15, despite having been credited with helping millions of poor children.
"It's easy when you make $200,000 a year to drag your feet on someone that may be making $10,000 a year," Hall said referring to the $174,000 annual salaries earned by members of Congress.
The expanded Child Tax Credit's monthly payments of $300 for each child under the age of 6 and $250 for children 6 to 17, lifted some 3.6 million American children out of poverty in October, according to Columbia University research.
"It allowed our families to be able to live," Hall said.
The Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition in Cleveland, where Hall is executive director, has had to start setting aside $10,000 per month to fund an ad hoc food bank since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
When the expanded Child Tax Credit monthly payments kicked in, the calls to the ad hoc food bank dropped off and many families were able to move into better, more stable housing.
Hopes for a one-year extension dimmed on Sunday after moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin https://www.reuters.com/world/us/schumer-says-senate-vote-biden-plan-despite-manchin-objections-2021-12-20 said he would not vote for President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion "Build Back Better https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/whats-bidens-175-trillion-build-back-better-package-2021-11-05" program, which includes the tax credit provision.
In so doing, he joined Republicans who are in lock-step opposition to Biden's plan, instead wanting a scaled-back child tax credit.
'INFLATIONARY BOMB'
Republicans oppose the size of the credit, as well as the aim of Democrats to attach it to the $1.75 trillion "Build Back Better https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/whats-bidens-175-trillion-build-back-better-package-2021-11-05" program.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the senior Senate Budget Committee Republican, described the Democrats' tax credit provision as an "inflationary bomb."
Without the expanded tax credit, the program for poor families reverts to a lump-sum payment that families need to file a tax return to claim, and a reduction to $2,000 annually per child from up to $3,600 this year. The Treasury Department in June estimated that families with as many as 2.3 million children did not file returns in 2019 or 2020 because their incomes were below the threshold for filing.
That presents a problem for Tiquanda Newton, a 43-year-old mother of daughters aged 21, 17, seven and four.
"I walk into the store and I have to figure out who gets what and who doesn't get what. The truth is, I don't get. I just make sure I stay hydrated," Newton said in a telephone interview from her home in New Haven, Connecticut.
Newton has been unemployed since the birth of her 7-year-old and has guardianship of her eldest daughter, who has a life-long disability.
A broken heater in her car goes unrepaired and she despairs over the rising costs of basics like food and school supplies.
"These babies are growing quicker than we can even buy clothes," she said.
Despite the breakdown in negotiations, "The fight to pass Build Back Better is not over," said House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, a leading advocate for maintaining the expanded tax credit.
Already, there have been hints Democrats could move to shrink the $1.75 billion plan to win support from Manchin and Democratic Senator Krysten Sinema, who together oppose various parts of the bill.
Meanwhile, Mary Beth Cochran, 52, worries she may have to quit her job in western North Carolina if the expanded tax credit vanishes and she no longer can afford the used car she bought with the extra federal funding.
"I'm not asking for a handout," she said. "This money is to help us get by so our children don't have to struggle."
(Reporting by Moira Warburton, Richard Cowan and Jonelle Marte in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
Joe Manchin Privately Told Colleagues Parents Use Child Tax Credit Money On Drugs
Tara Golshan
Mon, December 20, 2021
WASHINGTON — After months of haggling with President Joe Biden and other Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) dashed his party’s hopes on Sunday by announcing he wouldn’t vote for the Build Back Better legislation.
Publicly, his biggest gripes are about the cost of the bill. But privately, Manchin has told his colleagues that he essentially doesn’t trust low-income people to spend government money wisely.
In recent months, Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children, according to two sources familiar with the senator’s comments.
Continuing the child tax credit for another year is a core part of the Build Back Better legislation that Democrats had hoped to pass by the end of the year. The policy has already cut child poverty by nearly 30%.
Manchin’s private comments shocked several senators, who saw it as an unfair assault on his own constituents and those struggling to raise children in poverty.
Manchin has also told colleagues he believes that Americans would fraudulently use the proposed paid sick leave policy, specifically saying people would feign being sick and go on hunting trips, a source familiar with his comments told HuffPost.
Manchin’s office declined to comment for this story.
In a statement on Sunday, he said he opposed the Build Back Better agenda largely because of its cost.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in November. On Sunday, he announced he would not be voting for President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill, essentially ensuring that it will not pass. (Photo: Tom Williams via Getty Images)
“My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face,” Manchin said. “I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful to every hard-working American at the gasoline pumps, grocery stores and utility bills with no end in sight.”
Manchin’s refusal to support the bill likely means December’s child tax credit payment will be the final one for the 36 million households that have been receiving the benefits since July.
The credit pays $300 per child under 6 and $250 for kids under 18 for two-parent households earning less than $150,000 annually and single parents earning less than $112,000. Parents don’t need to have earned money or to owe taxes in order to qualify.
Manchin previously suggested Democrats should impose “work requirements” on all the social programs in Build Back Better, but he seemed to drop that demand after the White House released a framework of the legislation in October. The White House said the framework resulted from negotiations with Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
Low-income households that receive the credit have reported spending the money mostly on necessities like food, utilities, clothing and school supplies, according to monthly survey data from the Census Bureau. Four percent of households have reported using the money for “recreational goods” such as sports equipment or toys.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a top proponent of the child payments, said he had heard of Manchin’s remarks about the money going toward drugs but wasn’t paying any mind to it.
“The stories I hear the most, if you put it in categories, are child care, school supplies, college fund, phone bills,” Brown told HuffPost last week. “My focus is getting this program — which is the best thing Congress has done in 25 years — making sure it continues.”
The concern that some parents would use the benefit for drugs echoes years of conservative talking points on welfare. During Barack Obama’s presidency, Republicans in Congress and state legislatures around the country sought to add drug testing to requirements to nutrition assistance, unemployment benefits and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides monthly cash benefits to poor parents.
More than a dozen states enacted drug testing policies from 2011 through 2017, resulting in less than 1% of applicants actually testing positive for drugs. States lawmakers have generally lost interest in the policy in recent years.
Since West Virginia launched its TANF drug screening program in 2017, just 131 applicants have tested positive for drugs ― a small fraction of the thousands of program beneficiaries. Nevertheless, state lawmakers this spring opted to continue the screening program for another five years. The puny number of welfare recipients kicked off the rolls might not save the state any money, but it sends a message: People on welfare can’t be trusted, and we’re making them prove they deserve help.
Manchin told HuffPost last week that he has always supported the child tax credit, but he refused to say whether he supported the version of it that Democrats were hoping to extend through 2022, calling the question “bullshit.” He later said that if Democrats want to continue the policy, they should do so for 10 years instead of just one.
Since the credit costs more than $100 billion per year, a longer extension would be costly, and it would force Democrats to drop other programs from the Build Back Better agenda. Democrats want their enhanced child tax credit to be permanent, but included a one-year extension to reduce the cost of the bill, arguing that it would be easy to extend the credit at a later time. Now the policy may expire after just six months.
Democrats’ frustration with Manchin began to boil over last week even before he announced he wouldn’t support the bill.
“If Mr. Manchin and Republicans and anybody else who thinks struggling working families, who have a hard time raising their kids today, should not be able to continue to get the help — that’s their view — they’ve got to come forward to the American people and say, ‘we don’t think you need help,’” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Tara Golshan
Mon, December 20, 2021
WASHINGTON — After months of haggling with President Joe Biden and other Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) dashed his party’s hopes on Sunday by announcing he wouldn’t vote for the Build Back Better legislation.
Publicly, his biggest gripes are about the cost of the bill. But privately, Manchin has told his colleagues that he essentially doesn’t trust low-income people to spend government money wisely.
In recent months, Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children, according to two sources familiar with the senator’s comments.
Continuing the child tax credit for another year is a core part of the Build Back Better legislation that Democrats had hoped to pass by the end of the year. The policy has already cut child poverty by nearly 30%.
Manchin’s private comments shocked several senators, who saw it as an unfair assault on his own constituents and those struggling to raise children in poverty.
Manchin has also told colleagues he believes that Americans would fraudulently use the proposed paid sick leave policy, specifically saying people would feign being sick and go on hunting trips, a source familiar with his comments told HuffPost.
Manchin’s office declined to comment for this story.
In a statement on Sunday, he said he opposed the Build Back Better agenda largely because of its cost.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in November. On Sunday, he announced he would not be voting for President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill, essentially ensuring that it will not pass. (Photo: Tom Williams via Getty Images)
“My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face,” Manchin said. “I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful to every hard-working American at the gasoline pumps, grocery stores and utility bills with no end in sight.”
Manchin’s refusal to support the bill likely means December’s child tax credit payment will be the final one for the 36 million households that have been receiving the benefits since July.
The credit pays $300 per child under 6 and $250 for kids under 18 for two-parent households earning less than $150,000 annually and single parents earning less than $112,000. Parents don’t need to have earned money or to owe taxes in order to qualify.
Manchin previously suggested Democrats should impose “work requirements” on all the social programs in Build Back Better, but he seemed to drop that demand after the White House released a framework of the legislation in October. The White House said the framework resulted from negotiations with Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
Low-income households that receive the credit have reported spending the money mostly on necessities like food, utilities, clothing and school supplies, according to monthly survey data from the Census Bureau. Four percent of households have reported using the money for “recreational goods” such as sports equipment or toys.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a top proponent of the child payments, said he had heard of Manchin’s remarks about the money going toward drugs but wasn’t paying any mind to it.
“The stories I hear the most, if you put it in categories, are child care, school supplies, college fund, phone bills,” Brown told HuffPost last week. “My focus is getting this program — which is the best thing Congress has done in 25 years — making sure it continues.”
If Mr. Manchin and Republicans and anybody else who thinks struggling working families, who have a hard time raising their kids today, should not be able to continue to get the help ... they’ve got to come forward to the American people.Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
The concern that some parents would use the benefit for drugs echoes years of conservative talking points on welfare. During Barack Obama’s presidency, Republicans in Congress and state legislatures around the country sought to add drug testing to requirements to nutrition assistance, unemployment benefits and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides monthly cash benefits to poor parents.
More than a dozen states enacted drug testing policies from 2011 through 2017, resulting in less than 1% of applicants actually testing positive for drugs. States lawmakers have generally lost interest in the policy in recent years.
Since West Virginia launched its TANF drug screening program in 2017, just 131 applicants have tested positive for drugs ― a small fraction of the thousands of program beneficiaries. Nevertheless, state lawmakers this spring opted to continue the screening program for another five years. The puny number of welfare recipients kicked off the rolls might not save the state any money, but it sends a message: People on welfare can’t be trusted, and we’re making them prove they deserve help.
Manchin told HuffPost last week that he has always supported the child tax credit, but he refused to say whether he supported the version of it that Democrats were hoping to extend through 2022, calling the question “bullshit.” He later said that if Democrats want to continue the policy, they should do so for 10 years instead of just one.
Since the credit costs more than $100 billion per year, a longer extension would be costly, and it would force Democrats to drop other programs from the Build Back Better agenda. Democrats want their enhanced child tax credit to be permanent, but included a one-year extension to reduce the cost of the bill, arguing that it would be easy to extend the credit at a later time. Now the policy may expire after just six months.
Democrats’ frustration with Manchin began to boil over last week even before he announced he wouldn’t support the bill.
“If Mr. Manchin and Republicans and anybody else who thinks struggling working families, who have a hard time raising their kids today, should not be able to continue to get the help — that’s their view — they’ve got to come forward to the American people and say, ‘we don’t think you need help,’” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Corporate donations to Sen. Joe Manchin's PAC surged as he fought President Biden's agenda
Brian Schwartz
CNBC
Sen. Joe Manchin's PAC saw a surge in corporate contributions this fall before his decision to oppose President Biden's $1.75 trillion social and climate legislation.
The political action committee received 17 contributions in October and 19 last month, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.
Corporations, business leaders and groups have pressured Manchin to oppose the agenda since the Democrats gained a slight majority in the Senate.
Manchin and Biden's agenda
Manchin has put himself in the thick of several policy debates that affect corporations in recent months, in no small part because he alone can swing a simple majority vote in the 50-50 Senate.
In June he voiced his opposition against the For the People Act, a bill that could make changes to future elections. The bill passed the House but has yet to go through the Senate.
When a debate ensued on Capitol Hill about raising taxes on corporations, Manchin said he wouldn't go above raising the corporate tax to 25% from 21%. After Democrats proposed enacting a billionaires tax, Manchin said he wasn't for it.
Manchin did end up supporting the Democratic plan to enact a 15% minimum corporate tax on declared income of large corporations. He also helped to craft and then advocated for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan that became law last month.
In addition, the conservative Democrat voted with Republicans to block the Biden administration vaccine mandate for private businesses.
Manchin's most prominent role has come in shaping Biden's Build Back Better Act legislation that would transform social services for workers in the U.S., set the minimum tax rate on corporations and make the biggest federal investment ever in curbing climate change.
The senator pushed Democratic leaders to cut the bill's price tag in half, to $1.75 trillion from an initial $3.5 trillion.
When the White House announced a framework agreement on the bill in October, the administration noted that it came about after officials negotiated "in good faith" with Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a centrist Democrat from Arizona.
The West Virginia lawmaker never publicly supported the agreement, even as the House passed it in November along with the complementary infrastructure bill.
Brian Schwartz
CNBC
Sen. Joe Manchin's PAC saw a surge in corporate contributions this fall before his decision to oppose President Biden's $1.75 trillion social and climate legislation.
The political action committee received 17 contributions in October and 19 last month, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.
Corporations, business leaders and groups have pressured Manchin to oppose the agenda since the Democrats gained a slight majority in the Senate.
© Provided by CNBC U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) returns to a basement office meeting with other senators at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, December 15, 2021.
Sen. Joe Manchin's political action committee saw a surge in corporate contributions this fall, ahead of his decision to oppose – and apparently kill – President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion social safety net and climate-change bill.
Manchin's leadership PAC, Country Roads, received 17 contributions from corporations in October and 19 last month, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. None of the four months prior to October saw as many corporate contributions.
The White House unveiled its framework for the bill, dubbed the Build Back Better Act, in October. It included about $550 billion to battle climate change by investing in green technologies. Manchin, a conservative Democrat who has profited from his links to the coal industry, opposed key climate provisions in the legislation.
In November, the Country Roads PAC received corporate contributions ranging from $2,500 to $5,000. Donors included financial giants such as American Express and Goldman Sachs, aerospace and defense leader Lockheed Martin, health insurance companies UnitedHealth Group and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and natural gas company CNX Resources. The PAC raised over $110,000 in November.
Country Roads raised over $150,000 in October from corporate donors such as Verizon, Union Pacific, Wells Fargo and PACs tied to the coal and mining industries. Manchin, a conservative Democrat, represents West Virginia, which overwhelmingly voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. The state is a key location for the fossil-fuel industry.
Corporations, business leaders and outside groups have pressured Manchin to oppose key parts of the Democratic administration's agenda ever since his party gained a slight majority in the Senate following the 2020 election.
The Koch network has lobbied Manchin to oppose key elements of the legislation, while billionaires such as Nelson Peltz and Ken Langone have cheered him on as he moved against his own party. Langone has said he plans to host a fundraising event for the West Virginia lawmaker, who is weighing running for reelection in 2024.
Jonathan Kott, who once worked for Manchin as a communications advisor and is now a lobbyist, gave $2,500 to Manchin's leadership PAC at the end of November. Kott started lobbying for energy giant ExxonMobil in the third quarter after he was hired by Capitol Counsel earlier this year.
Manchin said on Sunday that he won't support Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending and climate policy bill after months of negotiations with the president, his team and leaders in Congress. It was the latest in a set of issues that Manchin has pushed back on against his own party.
In October and November, a period that coincided with Manchin fighting his own party on the agenda, his PAC spent thousands of dollars on hotel arrangements and travel.
In November, the leadership PAC spent over $40,000 at The Greenbrier, a luxury resort in West Virginia, which is owned by the family of Republican Gov. Jim Justice. The November FEC filing says the money was used for catering, lodging, food and beverages.
In October, the PAC spent over $1,000 on travel for Manchin's son, Joseph Manchin IV, according to that month's filing. The Intercept reported that Manchin's son has leadership roles at companies with ties to the West Virginia lawmaker.
The PAC spent another $1,000 on the Sawgrass Marriot, a golf resort in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and over $2,000 on catering an event at RPM Italian, a restaurant in Washington, D.C. The PAC also spent just over $10,000 that month as a deposit for an event at The Greenbrier.
The purpose of the thousands of dollars spent on hotels, meals and travel is unclear. A representative for Manchin's office did not return a request for comment.
Lawmakers often use their leadership PACs on issues that watchdogs say are lightly regulated outside of politics, according to research from nonprofit groups Issue One and the Campaign Legal Center.
"Issue One and Campaign Legal Center found that the leadership PACs of 120 members of Congress spent less than 50% on politics between January 2019 and December 2020," the research says. Manchin's PAC, according to the report, spent about 65% of the funds over that time period on what the researchers describe as politics, leaving nearly 35% to be put toward travel, hotels, meals, campaign staffing and other investments.
While leadership PACs are meant to help fund candidates running for office, the report from the nonprofits says it appears that many lawmakers simply use the money at fancy resorts and restaurants.
"Instead, such spending patterns give the impression that some politicians are simply raising money at one posh location to pay for the next fundraiser at the next fancy destination — creating an endless fundraising cycle at luxurious restaurants and resorts, much of which is paid for by special interest money, with no cost to lawmakers' own pocketbooks," the report says.
Manchin's PAC did donate some of its money to a political campaign, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The PAC sent $10,000 to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto's, D-Nev., political operation in the early stages of the 2022 reelection campaign cycle. The Nevada race is expected to be competitive.
Sen. Joe Manchin's political action committee saw a surge in corporate contributions this fall, ahead of his decision to oppose – and apparently kill – President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion social safety net and climate-change bill.
Manchin's leadership PAC, Country Roads, received 17 contributions from corporations in October and 19 last month, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. None of the four months prior to October saw as many corporate contributions.
The White House unveiled its framework for the bill, dubbed the Build Back Better Act, in October. It included about $550 billion to battle climate change by investing in green technologies. Manchin, a conservative Democrat who has profited from his links to the coal industry, opposed key climate provisions in the legislation.
In November, the Country Roads PAC received corporate contributions ranging from $2,500 to $5,000. Donors included financial giants such as American Express and Goldman Sachs, aerospace and defense leader Lockheed Martin, health insurance companies UnitedHealth Group and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and natural gas company CNX Resources. The PAC raised over $110,000 in November.
Country Roads raised over $150,000 in October from corporate donors such as Verizon, Union Pacific, Wells Fargo and PACs tied to the coal and mining industries. Manchin, a conservative Democrat, represents West Virginia, which overwhelmingly voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. The state is a key location for the fossil-fuel industry.
Corporations, business leaders and outside groups have pressured Manchin to oppose key parts of the Democratic administration's agenda ever since his party gained a slight majority in the Senate following the 2020 election.
The Koch network has lobbied Manchin to oppose key elements of the legislation, while billionaires such as Nelson Peltz and Ken Langone have cheered him on as he moved against his own party. Langone has said he plans to host a fundraising event for the West Virginia lawmaker, who is weighing running for reelection in 2024.
Jonathan Kott, who once worked for Manchin as a communications advisor and is now a lobbyist, gave $2,500 to Manchin's leadership PAC at the end of November. Kott started lobbying for energy giant ExxonMobil in the third quarter after he was hired by Capitol Counsel earlier this year.
Manchin said on Sunday that he won't support Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending and climate policy bill after months of negotiations with the president, his team and leaders in Congress. It was the latest in a set of issues that Manchin has pushed back on against his own party.
In October and November, a period that coincided with Manchin fighting his own party on the agenda, his PAC spent thousands of dollars on hotel arrangements and travel.
In November, the leadership PAC spent over $40,000 at The Greenbrier, a luxury resort in West Virginia, which is owned by the family of Republican Gov. Jim Justice. The November FEC filing says the money was used for catering, lodging, food and beverages.
In October, the PAC spent over $1,000 on travel for Manchin's son, Joseph Manchin IV, according to that month's filing. The Intercept reported that Manchin's son has leadership roles at companies with ties to the West Virginia lawmaker.
The PAC spent another $1,000 on the Sawgrass Marriot, a golf resort in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and over $2,000 on catering an event at RPM Italian, a restaurant in Washington, D.C. The PAC also spent just over $10,000 that month as a deposit for an event at The Greenbrier.
The purpose of the thousands of dollars spent on hotels, meals and travel is unclear. A representative for Manchin's office did not return a request for comment.
Lawmakers often use their leadership PACs on issues that watchdogs say are lightly regulated outside of politics, according to research from nonprofit groups Issue One and the Campaign Legal Center.
"Issue One and Campaign Legal Center found that the leadership PACs of 120 members of Congress spent less than 50% on politics between January 2019 and December 2020," the research says. Manchin's PAC, according to the report, spent about 65% of the funds over that time period on what the researchers describe as politics, leaving nearly 35% to be put toward travel, hotels, meals, campaign staffing and other investments.
While leadership PACs are meant to help fund candidates running for office, the report from the nonprofits says it appears that many lawmakers simply use the money at fancy resorts and restaurants.
"Instead, such spending patterns give the impression that some politicians are simply raising money at one posh location to pay for the next fundraiser at the next fancy destination — creating an endless fundraising cycle at luxurious restaurants and resorts, much of which is paid for by special interest money, with no cost to lawmakers' own pocketbooks," the report says.
Manchin's PAC did donate some of its money to a political campaign, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The PAC sent $10,000 to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto's, D-Nev., political operation in the early stages of the 2022 reelection campaign cycle. The Nevada race is expected to be competitive.
Manchin and Biden's agenda
Manchin has put himself in the thick of several policy debates that affect corporations in recent months, in no small part because he alone can swing a simple majority vote in the 50-50 Senate.
In June he voiced his opposition against the For the People Act, a bill that could make changes to future elections. The bill passed the House but has yet to go through the Senate.
When a debate ensued on Capitol Hill about raising taxes on corporations, Manchin said he wouldn't go above raising the corporate tax to 25% from 21%. After Democrats proposed enacting a billionaires tax, Manchin said he wasn't for it.
Manchin did end up supporting the Democratic plan to enact a 15% minimum corporate tax on declared income of large corporations. He also helped to craft and then advocated for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan that became law last month.
In addition, the conservative Democrat voted with Republicans to block the Biden administration vaccine mandate for private businesses.
Manchin's most prominent role has come in shaping Biden's Build Back Better Act legislation that would transform social services for workers in the U.S., set the minimum tax rate on corporations and make the biggest federal investment ever in curbing climate change.
The senator pushed Democratic leaders to cut the bill's price tag in half, to $1.75 trillion from an initial $3.5 trillion.
When the White House announced a framework agreement on the bill in October, the administration noted that it came about after officials negotiated "in good faith" with Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a centrist Democrat from Arizona.
The West Virginia lawmaker never publicly supported the agreement, even as the House passed it in November along with the complementary infrastructure bill.
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