But privately, Manchin has told his colleagues that he essentially doesn’t trust low-income people to spend government money wisely.
In recent months, Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children, according to two sources familiar with the senator’s comments.
Continuing the child tax credit for another year is a core part of the Build Back Better legislation that Democrats had hoped to pass by the end of the year.
Manchin has also told colleagues he believes that Americans would fraudulently use the proposed paid sick leave policy, specifically saying people would feign being sick and go on hunting trips, a source familiar with his comments told HuffPost.
The concern that some parents would use the benefit for drugs echoes years of conservative talking points on welfare.
Democrats want their enhanced child tax credit to be permanent, but included a one-year extension to reduce the cost of the bill, arguing that it would be easy to extend the credit at a later time.
Democrats’ frustration with Manchin began to boil over last week even before he announced he wouldn’t support the bill. »
