Rep. Cori Bush calls fellow Democrat Sen. Manchin's opposition to social spending bill 'anti black'

Missouri Rep. Cori Bush is lashing out at fellow Democrat Sen.Joe Manchin for again failing to support President Biden's multi-trillion-dollar social spending bill, calling his stance "anti-black, anti-child, anti-woman and anti-immigrant."

Bush made the comment Monday after Manchin, of West Virginia, again said he could not support Biden's Build Back Better bill, citing its cost despite it being scaled back from roughly $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion.

"Joe Manchin does not get to dictate the future of our country," Bush said in a statement. 

Manchin argues the so-called "human infrastructure" package will drive the country into economic crisis, considering the amount of proposed government spending combined with inflation, the growing national debt and social spending programs on the brink of insolvency.

"How can I in good conscience vote for a bill that proposes massive expansion to social programs when vital programs like Social Security and Medicare faces insolvency and benefits could start being reduced as soon as 2026 in Medicare and 2033 in Social Security? How does that make sense?," asked Manchin, prompting the Bush backlash.

"Throughout the last three months, I’ve been straightforward about my concerns that I will not support a reconciliation package that expands social programs and irresponsibly adds to our $29 trillion in national debt that no one seems to really care about or even talk about," he continued.

"Nor will I support a package that risks hurting American families suffering from historic inflation. Simply put, I will not support a bill that is this consequential without thoroughly understanding the impact that it’ll have on our national debt, our economy, and most importantly, all of our American people."

Said Bush: "Joe Manchin's opposition to the Build Back Better Act is anti-black, anti-child, anti-woman and anti-immigrant. When we talk about transformative change, we are talking about a bill that will benefit black, brown and Indigenous communities."

The freshman congresswoman also said those communities are also overwhelmingly excluded from the bipartisan, $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill awaiting final passage in the House.

"We cannot leave anyone behind," Bush, a progressive, also said. "Senator Manchin must support the Build Back Better Act."

Manchin responded: "It's obvious compromise is not good enough for a lot of my colleagues in Congress. It's all or nothing and their position doesn't seem to change unless we agree to everything."