Manchin singlehandedly denied families paid leave. Why would a Democrat oppose such a basic measure?

[Celerity]

Americans will remain some of the last people on the planet to have no right to paid leave when they have children, and for that, you can thank Joe Manchin.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/29/joe-manchin-denied-us-families-paid-parental-leave

Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia, tanked the paid leave portion of an increasingly narrow domestic policy package. Manchin had already gotten Democrats to make what was once a sweeping and ambitious bill smaller and less effectual. Even though the Democrats control the House, the Senate and the White House, and are not expected to maintain control of Congress after this year’s midterm elections, they still can’t get it together to deliver what the American people put them in office to do. And that’s because of Manchin, as well as his fellow centrist holdout, Kyrsten Sinema.

To be fair, 50 Republicans are to blame for this as well. All 50 of them oppose Biden’s paid family leave plan, and none were expected to vote for this bill. If even a few of them had been willing to cross the aisle to support parents and new babies – to be, one might say, “pro-life” and “pro-family” – then Manchin would not have the power he does to deny paid family leave to millions of American parents. So let’s not forget this reality, too: most Democrats want to create a paid family leave program. Republicans do not.

But Manchin’s actions are particularly insulting and egregious because he is a Democrat. He enjoys party support and funding. He benefits when Democrats do popular things. And now, he’s standing in the way of a policy that the overwhelming majority of Democrats want, and that is resoundingly popular with the American public, including conservatives and Republicans.

Paid family leave brings a long list of benefits to families, from healthier children to stronger marriages. And it benefits the country by keeping more working-age people in the workforce – when families don’t have paid leave, mothers drop out, a dynamic we’ve seen exacerbated by the pandemic. By some estimates, paid family leave could increase US GDP by billions of dollars.

snip

https://www.cnbc.com/american-economic-survey/

[elias7]

1. Because he's not really a Democrat

There’s personal, social and financial benefits to such a program, but since Republicans choose not to see past the childish stance of someone getting something for nothing, they miss the whole point by misrepresenting reality. And, it’s control over women, forcing them not to get pregnant, forcing abortion, or forcing them to lose their job, which is, Joe Manchin, a Republican stance, not a Democratic one. Why doesn’t he stop lying to us and himself and just join the party he’s in bed with, FFS.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Your points are well made. However, if he left the party formally, we would lose the Senate.

And he would lose whatever clout he now enjoys.

[elias7]

18. Which makes me like his face even less (if that is possible)

[LenaBaby61]

6. THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[Efilroft Sul]

17. Tell me how the Republicans control the Senate without having the numbers to control the Senate.

And you did exactly that.

[Hortensis]

3. He's one of our few conservative Democrats and claims small business

can't afford it. He said he wouldn't vote for it from the beginning. What other reasons?

It's a special priority issue for Biden and many other Democratic senators and congressmen, but everyone knew all Republicans would vote against and it could only happen if Manchin could be brought around. We're still trying for something.

[Celerity]

9. Manchin is full of (fill in the blank) & once again he is hurting the poorest workers & PoC the most

claims small business can't afford it

The federal government pays them for it ($225 billion was in the Biden BBB Act proposal, and that was for 12 weeks, not 4), and all that payout was 100% covered by tax increases on the ultra wealthy and large corporations


Cutting paid leave hurts low-wage workers the most

Just 8 percent of low-wage workers have access to paid family leave, compared to 20 percent of all workers.

https://www.vox.com/2021/10/29/22749595/paid-leave-sick-parental-leave-biden-build-back-better-bill

As it weighs what to keep in the budget bill, Congress is poised to abandon plans for a comprehensive paid family leave program yet again. Had the proposal been included, it would have brought low-wage workers — many of whom have no access to paid leave — a major new benefit.

The US is the only industrialized country that doesn’t guarantee workers paid leave, a gap that hits low-wage workers the hardest. According to a 2020 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 8 percent of low-wage workers (people making less than $683 a week, or roughly $35,516 per year) have access to paid family leave, compared to 20 percent of all workers and 33 percent of higher-wage workers. And 49 percent of low-wage workers have paid sick leave, compared to the 75 percent of workers overall and 92 percent of higher-wage workers who have access to the benefit.

Racial disparities persist for leave policies as well: 43 percent of Black workers and 25 percent of Latino workers have access to paid parental leave compared to 50 percent of white workers, according to a 2012 study from the Center for American Progress. A lack of access to leave also has a more significant impact on women, who take on the majority of caregiving responsibilities for children and sick family members.

Advocates for paid family and sick leave emphasize that the program is critical for improving women’s retention in the workplace, children’s health care outcomes, and bonding between parents and children. It also ensures that people don’t have to choose between their wages and caring for a family member, a dynamic that can force people to drop out of the workforce altogether.

[Hortensis]

13. Celerity, we ARE the family leave people. Of course. Biden ran on that,

remember? It's a really big issue with us. Most of our candidates did. Also all the many other things in THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S BIDEN PLAN.

I share the frustrations of democracy, but when the Republicans are close to carrying off a putsch and installing a vicious dictator is exactly the wrong time for anyone to let losing some of the provisions n our bills destroy their commitment to saving the democracy that makes progressive action possible.

People need keep in mind that if we lose, there will be no next time. We lose everything, and what they impose instead will make today seem like the end of America's golden era it was.

[Celerity]

15. If we could just get it in for 4 weeks for now, then I rate the bill is about as good as we can hope

for atm

the other thing I wish was that we had done dental instead of hearing aids

oral health is more important than hearing aids IMHO, and vision is far cheaper than dental for most people


Manchin is a true game-playing ass, as he DID say he was oki with 4 weeks, only to turn around and fuck us hard just 2 weeks later

that is why I am so glad that we did not pass the BIF without an ironclad agreement from Manchin and Sinema

I do not trust either for shit

paid leave was such a big headliner for Biden and almost all of the party

it is just shambolic that as of now, the US will still remain the only advanced nation on the planet without it

it polled over 80% with WV Dems and over 70% with WV independents

How the hell Manchin looks at that and says 'I will be against it and that obstruction on it will HELP me get elected again!' is beyond me. Perhaps he really is as corrupt and bought off as so many say. It is just sad.

and yes, FUCK the Rethugs!, especially that POS Collins, who we have to partially thank Manchin for (as he endorsed her her rotten arse)

[duforsure]

4. Either one of two things are behind his and Sinema's actions,

Getting bribed from the former guy and/or wealthy campaign donors or re-election promises from them, or they've been compromised to block everything they can . Investigations of these two I think will expose them both why they are doing this to the American people. Tired of their weak excuses, and claims . Follow the money, and ties they have with the orange loser and Russians. They are hurting millions of Americans acting out like this blocking legislation like this.

[Demsrule86]

7. Or he thinks small business can't afford it...sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one.

[Elessar Zappa]

8. If it can be done in Europe,

it can be done here. Europe also has small businesses.

[Celerity]

16. it's paid for by the government & the government outlays are paid for by tax raises on the wealthy

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215997042#post9

[bamagal62]

14. I'll go with bribery.

[gab13by13]

5. Corporate America owns him,

he claims it's about small business when in fact it's about big business.

[doc03]

10. It would cost the energy industry a lot of money nt

[Generic Brad]

11. He's over 70 and it will never impact him personally

It may be a simple as that. He can't relate and doesn't have shred of empathy about this.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

12. He's a bad man. Only a bad man would do such a thing.

It's not rocket science.