The Working Families Party’s (WFP) response to President Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday subtly criticized moderate Democrats who opposed the trillion-dollar Build Back Better package.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., who was selected to give the WFP’s progressive response to Biden, applauded House Democrats for passing the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better package in November 2021, but criticized “corporate Democrats” for blocking the bill in the Senate. The legislation ultimately stalled last year after receiving significant pushback from Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., last year.
“When Democrats controlled the House, we passed President Biden’s full Build Back Better plan,” Ramirez remarked. “That included funding to make child care and eldercare and community college more affordable. House Democrats voted to extend the child tax credit, putting $300/month in the pockets of working parents.”
“Every Republican was opposed. And just enough corporate Democrats joined them to block that bill,” she added.
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While Biden aggressively pushed the Build Back Better plan early in his presidency as a top priority, Manchin and Sinema refused to support the legislation over concerns related to its massive price tag and potential impact on already-high inflation.
In December 2021, after a round of intense negotiations on the bill, Manchin said he had “done everything humanly possible” to negotiate a compromise, but couldn’t reach one with the White House. Two months later, he declared the bill “dead.”
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And Sinema, who recently left the Democratic Party to be an Independent, failed to ever signal support for the bill. Following Manchin’s remarks on the legislation being “dead,” Sinema privately concurred, Axios reported in April.
However, Sinema eventually voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, a slimmed down nearly $800 billion climate and tax package authored by Manchin and signed into law by Biden in August.
In addition to her comments criticizing efforts to oppose Build Back Better last year, Ramirez repeatedly slammed Republicans over their economic agenda in her speech Tuesday evening.
“What I want to say to President Biden and all my fellow Democrats in Congress is that we have two jobs,” Ramirez said. “We must stand up to the extremism of the MAGA Republicans. We have to show working people what Democrats will deliver for working families if they put us in control.”
“If Republicans in the majority are as interested in working class families as they claim, they’ll stand with us,” she continued. “But if they don’t, Americans will see who is on their side, and Republicans will pay the price at the ballot box.”
The Illinois Democrat also advocated for immigration reform, increased access to abortion and end to qualified immunity for police officers in light of the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee.