If they were so ready to vote for the bill, why didn't it get ratified ages ago? All the negotiations have been with Manchin and, to a lesser degree, Sinema. That is, unless you think Biden secretly wanted to strip out all corporate tax increases, paid family leave, climate change provisions, drug pricing reform, and so on, and just needed convenient scapegoats.
Also, it's not just Manchin and Sinema, though they are clearly the face of the opposition. These Dems have also come out against elements of BBB, most notably drug pricing (Gottheimer is particularly vocal on a number of issues):
Kathleen Rice of New York
Scott Peters of California
Kurt Schrader of Oregon
Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey
Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia
Filemon Vela of Texas
Henry Cuellar of Texas
Ed Case of Hawaii
Kurt Schrader of Oregon
Jared Golden of Maine
Vicente Gonzalez of Texas
Jim Costa of California
The progressives in the House were fighting FOR the BBB bill and were holding up the BIF to increase pressure to get them BOTH passed. This is incredibly old news. The White House and Pelosi all agreed and came out insisting they would pass them together. Then Biden's numbers began tanking and inflation came roaring into the picture, so they abandoned their promise and pressured Jayapal to get on board and get BIF passed. The hope was clearly to turn around the news cycle and have something to campaign on in 2022.
If Manchin and Sinema hadn't obstructed BBB passage, do you think we would be where we are today? Do you genuinely think that the progressive caucus would still be blocking the BBB act by blocking BIF right now?
This has all been going on for MONTHS and everyone knows who the real roadblocks are and who is fighting for the 99%. Let's not pretend otherwise.
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