The White House has dumped President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” name for his sweeping social welfare and climate spending legislation in favor of “Building a Better America,” an acknowledgment that his signature legislative proposal has no chance of passing Congress.
“That is formal,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. “No one cares about the name in the American public. They care about what’s in it and what it’s going to do, and so that’s what we’re most focused on.”
BIDEN CONDEMNS PUTIN AND SWIPES AT TRUMP IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
But Psaki declined to comment on West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s counteroffer for a pared-down “Building a Better America” framework.
“There have been ongoing communications with every member of the Senate, Democratic Senate, and many, many, many Republicans,” she said. “I’m not going to detail those from here.”
Biden believed there should be “broad agreement” on ideas such as negotiating prescription drug costs, reducing the deficit, and making the tax system “more fair,” according to Psaki.
“There are a lot of components that there’s a lot of passion behind on Capitol Hill,” she said. “There needs to just be continued conversations about that.”
Psaki’s remarks come after her deputy, Karine Jean-Pierre, was adamant Biden omitting the phrase “Build Back Better” from his State of the Union address did not mean he had given up on his agenda.
“Absolutely not,” she said. “This is what he’s been talking about the past several months.”
Manchin has opened the door for more negotiations over a spending measure, floating the possibility of inflation and deficit mitigation, as well as social and climate funding, financed by tax and drug pricing reform.
The senator’s announcement follows dismissive statements he made regarding Biden’s calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 and extending the enhanced child tax credit, two programs he panned during initial talks.
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“They just can’t help themselves,” he said afterward. “Nothing’s changed.”
