White House ally Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., predicted Sunday the ultimate price of Biden’s Build Back Better proposal will be $2 trillion.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Coons said the plan would target “giveaways” from former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts.
“We are going to reverse some of the tax giveaways from 2017 to big companies that are paying nothing in taxes, to the wealthiest Americans, so we can give a middle-class tax cut and reduce the costs that are weighing on every day Americans,” he said. “That is a package we can all agree on. And I think the ultimate price will be around $2 trillion.”
Coons singled out the child tax credit as having an “enormous impact on child poverty” and an issue that could trigger a bipartisan compromise.
“Sen. [Joe] Manchin [D-W.Va.] wants to means-test it so folks [earning] $300,000 or $400,000 aren’t getting the tax credit. I suppose that is a compromise point we can gather together around,” he said. “The cost of high quality daycare is out of reach for too many working families. I think that is an important thing we should do for as long as we can possibly afford to do it,”
Coons dismissed long term consequences for Biden’s plummeting approval numbers, asserting over “in the end,” his leadership will be deemed a success.
“One of the reasons why I have supported, I do support, and I’ll continue to support Biden is he is a person who believes in us,” Coons said. “He believes in our nation, he believes in standing up and fighting for democracy in the world stage, and strengthening American families here at home. I am confident that his leadership in the end will prove out to have been successful.”
“I am optimistic that by the end of this year we will look back at what happened in October and November and say it set the stage for a very positive 2022 ahead,” he added.
In a back and forth over the contentious debt-ceiling debate, Coons mistakenly called Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., “President Schumer” — and host Chris Wallace mockingly suggested it should be “President Manchin,” alluding to the centrist Democrat’s influence in the divided Senate.
“I agree with the reasons why Sen. Schumer was so frustrated, that this standoff over the debt limit was risky, unnecessary, and manufactured crisis,” Coons began his argument.”
But when he concluded “while I completely understand President Schumer’s deep frustration,” Wallace broke in saying, “I think you might have meant Sen. Manchin,” before adding: “Maybe we should say President Manchin at this point.”
