Build Back Better
Build Back Better is the mantra Biden’s campaign and then presidency has pushed. The pandemic is a chance for the U.S.—and the world—to take stock of what’s not working and change course. For Biden, that agenda has been tethered to the Build Back Better Act, which would give him a clean energy win as well as a new social safety net. The act is, essentially, his legacy. But it’s been a headache for much of his first year. Biden’s opening offer of a $2.25 trillion suite of programs was at both wildly ambitious and not nearly enough (a common theme these days).
Centrist Democrats shot it down so Biden whittled it down a bit more in May. The whittling continued, thanks largely to Manchin, and culminated in the West Virginia senator shooting it down on Fox News using utterly spurious logic (after vetoing the best provisions in it despite Biden wanting them at the center of the agenda!). It’s not just on Biden to get Manchin (or one rogue Republican) to yes, and it’s possible we’ll get some version of a Manchinified Build Back Better in 2022. But either way, he’s going to have to retake this class if he wants a passing grade.
Grade: F
