Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Thursday urged his party to
"take a break"
from advancing in Congress a titanic plan of social reforms wanted by Joe Biden, in the amount of $ 3.5 trillion, threatening this centerpiece of the program of the American president.
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Democrats control Congress but their majority in the Senate is so narrow that they cannot afford any defection to endorse this plan. The centrist Manchin had already announced that the bill posted for this plan seemed too high to him. But while parliamentary committees are now drafting the precise content of the Biden project, he reaffirmed his position in a column published by
the Wall Street Journal
, citing the risks associated with inflation, debt, the pandemic or future international crises.
If they do not sign the death of the project, his remarks and the outraged reactions they aroused in the left wing of the party signal that the negotiations will be very difficult to reach a democratic consensus.
"Congress should take a strategic break" on the bill, writes the West Virginia senator. It is "necessary"
to get
"more clarity on the trajectory of the pandemic, and it will allow us to determine whether inflation is transient or not."
I
"estimate that spending an additional trillions of dollars not only ignores the current economic reality but ensures that America will be weakened on the fiscal front.it will face the next recession or national emergency. ”
The young Democrat elected to the House of Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reacted by lambasting Senator Manchin, whom she accuses of being close to the big oil groups.
"Transform" American society
Free kindergartens, better access to health, investments in public housing, regularization of immigrants or even the fight against climate change: this project called "Build Back Better" by Joe Biden provides for $ 3,500 billion of investments over ten years to
"transform"
American society.
That is an amount almost equivalent to Germany's GDP in 2020 ($ 3.8 trillion).
Defenders of the plan ensure that these investments will be
"largely offset"
by financial income, especially through taxes, and therefore avoid the risk of economic overheating. The two houses of Congress adopted this summer, thanks to Democratic votes alone, a resolution which sets the total amount and its main priorities. The various parliamentary committees have until September 15 to present the precise content.
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