Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) on Tuesday accused Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) of not caring about minority groups after the senator announced that he would not vote in favor of the Build Back Better Act.
The progressive congressman, during an appearance on CNN, blasted Manchin on CNN over his opposition to President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending bill, alleging, among other things, that the West Virginia Democrat did not care about racial minorities groups "as a white man."
"It went from 3.5 trillion to 1.75 trillion [dollars] because him, his special interests, his donors, and lobbyists were cutting the bill for several months, because they did not want this bill to pass," Bowman said. "Why? Because this bill disproportionately supports people of color. It supports women. It supports children. It supports those who are poor and lifts them out of poverty. Why wouldn’t Manchin want to support that when this would benefit West Virginia tremendously?"
"It’s tremendously frustrating for me as a black man in America because once again, it’s an example of Joe Manchin as a white man showing that he doesn’t care about black people, he doesn’t care about Latinos, he doesn’t care about immigrants, he doesn’t care about women, and he doesn’t care about the poor," he continued. "He is a millionaire, and he has the privilege to kick the can down the road and not vote for this bill while the people in my district are suffering."
When Joe Manchin showed us who he was, I believed him — and everyone else should have too. Gutting Build Back Better because special interests want it gutted is not an option. The people cannot be left behind. pic.twitter.com/D7GdHux7bf
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) December 21, 2021
Bowman also suggested that Manchin had been bought by lobbyists and that, unless big money in Washington becomes a thing of the past, then "we don't have a democracy."
CNN host Laura Coates, filling in for Don Lemon, applauded Bowman for his "well-said and articulated" comments about what is "really at stake here" and what Manchin's true motivations were.
This comes after Manchin said Sunday during a Fox News interview that he "cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation." He said that inflation, the national debt and the COVID-19 pandemic were among the reasons why he could not vote for the bill.
In a 50-50 majority split in the Senate, Democrats need every member of their party to vote in favor of the bill for it to pass.
Bowman's criticisms are just the latest coming from the progressive arm of the Democratic Party.
On Sunday, following Manchin's pledge to vote against the bill, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) accused the senator of having "never negotiated in good faith" and of "obstructing the president's agenda" while Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said his "excuses" were "bulls--t." And on Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the situation a "farce" and claimed that Manchin's decision was an "egregious breach of the trust of the president."