Joe Manchin reacts to White House statement denouncing him for o

Joe Manchin demands that only parents working and making less than $200,000 get the full child tax credit — otherwise he'll tank it

 

• Sen. Manchin doesn't want the child tax credit to go on in its current form — if it extends at all.

• A work requirement would ensure payments are "accountable," Manchin told West Virginia's MetroNews.

• And harsher salary thresholds would make sure the aid reaches families that "really need it," he said.

The child tax credit will have to look dramatically different for Sen. Joe Manchin to support an extension.

The West Virginia senator drove a stake through Democrats' spending hopes on Sunday, announcing on Fox News he won't vote for the Build Back Better plan as it currently stands. Part of the proposal included an extension of the child tax credit, which has doled out monthly payments as large as $300 to roughly 36 million households since it began in July.

The last checks for the program went out on December 15, and it was up for renewal in President Biden's BBB plan. Manchin publicly criticized BBB's price tag for months, arguing it posed too great a risk with inflation already running at historic highs. Yet a Monday interview with West Virginia's MetroNews revealed more reasons for Manchin's opposition and, specifically, why he wouldn't back a re-up of the child tax credit.

The centrist senator began by repeating his call for a work requirement, arguing such a test is necessary for the payments to be "accountable." Other Senate Democrats had rebuked the work requirement in recent months, with many arguing that raising a child is work in itself. The Monday interview signals that, unless such a stipulation is added, Manchin will allow the credit to expire in late December.

 

Manchin also raised issue with the credit's income thresholds. There's no test to ensure the credit reaches the families who need it most, and that's led the program to be more expensive than necessary, the senator told MetroNews host Hoppy Kercheval.

"Do you believe people making $200,000 and $400,000 should still get the child tax credit the same as someone making $50,000, $60,000, or $70,000 that really needs it?" Manchin said. The $200,000 and $400,000 levels reference the thresholds at which the child tax credit phases out faster for individual or joint tax filers. Households making more than those levels each year already aren't able to receive the full credit.

A separate report published earlier Monday morning revealed some of the qualms Manchin had privately raised with the child tax credit. Manchin told Democratic colleagues in recent months he was concerned parents would waste the payments on drugs, The Huffington Post reported, citing sources familiar with the senator's comments.

Though Manchin didn't address such concerns in the MetroNews interview, he noted that the program should be more targeted. Congress should "make sure the money follows a child" so it can go to another caretaker if the biological parents aren't raising the child, the senator said.

There are "so many things we can fix that [Democrats] won't even talk about," Manchin said, adding "we've been way far apart philosophically."

The fallout from an expired child tax credit would likely be harsh. The program's first payments alone led the child poverty rate to drop to 11.9% from 15.8% through June, according to researchers at Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Almost 10 million children risk falling back into poverty if the credit isn't renewed, researchers at the progressive Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said earlier in December.

The credit's expiration would also come months before the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates, leaving families with higher borrowing costs while direct aid dries up.

Other Democrats aren't giving up yet on passing BBB and extending the credit. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to "keep fighting" for the spending plan on Monday, noting in a letter to colleagues that Manchin's opposition wouldn't deter the party "from continuing to find a way forward."

How the party moves forward, however, is unclear. Manchin's remarks all but guarantee that, if the child tax credit is extended at all, it won't be nearly as wide-reaching as it's been this year.

Read the original article on Business Insider

 

Joe Manchin reacts to White House statement denouncing him for opposing Build Back Better: 'Basically, they retaliated. I figured they would come back strong.'

Bryan Metzger

Mon, December 20, 2021, 10:24 AM

 

 

• After Manchin announced his opposition to the Build Back Better, the White House criticized him.

• Manchin was asked about the statement in a Monday interview with a West Virginia radio station.

• "Basically, they retaliated. I figured they would come back stronger," he said.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia responded on Monday to a strongly-worded White House statement that denounced him for declaring his opposition to the Democrats' Build Back Better social spending and climate bill.

"Basically, they retaliated. I figured they would come back strong," said Manchin on Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval.

After the West Virginia Democrat announced on Fox News Sunday that he was opposed to the Democrats' $2.2 climate and social spending bill, the White House issued a lengthy missive that was critical of the senator.

"Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in the statement. "If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator's colleagues in the House and Senate."

Manchin reportedly informed the White House of his decision just 30 minutes before his Fox News spot, refusing a call from them as they sought to talk Manchin down from his position. And CNN reported that President Joe Biden, who has sought to persuade the conservative Democrat to support the bill in recent months, personally signed off on the subsequent White House statement. 

"Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word," Psaki said in the statement. "In the meantime, Senator Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that, instead of $35 for that vital medicine."

Other Democrats reacted angrily to Manchin's statement, and the fate of a bill central to Biden's domestic agenda now hangs in the balance. With the House having passed its own version of the bill in November, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged on Monday to bring the bill up for a vote in the upper chamber "so that every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television," he said.

Manchin, for his part, seemed mostly unperturbed when Kercheval asked about the White House statement and Democratic anger towards him.

"They figured, surely to God, we can move one person, surely we can badger and beat one person, that's — surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough," said Manchin, referring to the waves of protest that he's encountered from progressive activists in recent months.

"Well, guess what? I'm from West Virginia," he said. "I'm not from where they're from, and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they'll be submissive. Period."

Read the original article on Business Insider

 

Mon, December 20, 2021, 3:22 AM

 

 

US-born China pop star Wang Leehom apologizes in scandal

Wang Leehom, an American songwriter and singer performs on stage during his solo concert in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province on May 20, 2018. Wang, who is one of the biggest pop stars in China apologized to his family and fans on Monday and said he would take a break from performing after a public dispute on social media with his ex-wife, who accused him of infidelity and hiring prostitutes. (Chinatopix via AP)BEIJING (AP) — An Asian American who is one of the biggest pop stars in China apologized to his family and fans on Monday and said he will take a break from performing after a public dispute on social media with his ex-wife, who accused him of infidelity and hiring prostitutes.

The dayslong back-and-forth has riveted fans of Wang Leehom, who is popular across the Chinese-speaking world and has acted in movies including “Lust, Caution” in 2007. The scandal was the top trending topic on the Chinese social media site Weibo, with many blaming and criticizing him.

He appeared to be trying to end the burgeoning public relations disaster with his apology to his parents, ex-wife and their children.

“I failed to manage my marriage properly and caused trouble for my family. I didn’t give the public the image an idol should have,” he wrote. “This is all my fault."

 

The social media war began after Wang, in an online post last week, confirmed speculation that he and his wife had divorced. Her accusations contrasted with the wholesome image he had cultivated as a husband and father. 

The singer was born in Rochester, N.Y., to parents from Taiwan, according to online biographies. He was last seen dodging the media at Taoyuan airport in Taiwan after arriving Saturday from Beijing, Taiwan's Central News Agency said.