Biden Says He Expects Manchin’s Vote for Economic Agenda

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said he expects Senator Joe Manchin to vote for his economic agenda, despite the West Virginia Democrat’s public criticisms of the developing legislation.

“I believe that Joe will be there,” Biden said Tuesday at a news conference at a United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

Manchin has expressed concern that the president’s $1.75 trillion tax and spending proposal, called “Build Back Better,” could hurt the economy and add to the federal debt, though he said he doesn’t seek to derail the plan.

Biden said he’s “made it clear” to Manchin that the legislation will raise wages, lower inflation and create jobs. 

“I understand Joe is looking for the precise detail to make sure nothing got slipped in, in terms of the way in which the legislation got written,” he said. He called that “different” than Manchin acknowledging he’d support the legislation.

Manchin said Monday he was “equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country” before saying Tuesday that “we’ll get this back on track.” 

“The White House knew exactly where I stand, there was a couple concerns that we had to work through,” he said.

Manchin said he agrees with childcare, pre-kindergarten and home-care provisions of the plan, while the climate provisions need work. But he said he never signed off on a framework for the legislation that the White House said last week it was “confident” would pass.

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