Manchin warns any Build Back Better talks must 'start from scratch'

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said Thursday that any future discussions with him on President Biden’s sweeping social welfare and climate change package would “start from scratch.”

"We're going to start with a clean sheet of paper and start over," Manchin told reporters a day after Biden pledged to break down the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan and try to pass it in pieces.

“If anybody wants to talk, I’ll always talk,” Manchin added, signaling he did not yet have any talks scheduled with the White House.

The bill fell apart in the Senate last year after Manchin said he could not vote for the roughly $2 trillion version that passed the House, citing concerns from his West Virginia constituents. Given a 50-50 split and lockstep GOP opposition, Democrats attempted and failed to pass Build Back Better using budget reconciliation to avoid a 60-vote filibuster.

Manchin cautioned that Congress should consider other issues, like inflation and the coronavirus pandemic, before returning to the spending deal.

“The main thing we need to do is take care of the inflation. Get your financial house in order. Get a tax code that works,” he said. “We can do a lot of good things. … But get your financial house in order. Get this inflation down. Get COVID out of the way and then we’ll be rolling.”

The West Virginia moderate has sparked frustration from progressives, who had initially hoped for a $6 trillion bill, but agreed to a $3.5 trillion version that ended up scaled back even further. He also blocked the filibuster reform required to enact Biden’s voting rights bill on Thursday alongside Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.