U.S. Democratic senator Joe Manchin said on Sunday that he will not vote for President Joe Biden's roughly 2-trillion-U.S.-dollar social spending and climate bill known as the Build Back Better Act, delivering a major blow to the White House.
"If I can't go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can't vote for it. And I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't," Manchin, a key moderate Democratic senator from West Virginia, said on "Fox News Sunday."
"This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do," Manchin said, citing concerns about the surging inflation and the 29-trillion-dollar national debt.
"We have inflation that ... really harm a lot of Americans and especially those who are most needy and having a hard time struggling right now," he said.
The U.S. consumer price index rose 6.8 percent in November from a year earlier, the fastest annual pace in almost 40 years, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Progressive and moderate Democrats have disagreed publicly on the size and scope of the social spending package for months, although House Democrats were able to pass its version of the bill last month.
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