Biden acknowledges social spending bill will likely be delayed

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden admitted Thursday that he probably won't be able to push through a massive social spending bill that is crucial to his legacy as quickly as he had hoped.

Referring to tough talks he has held recently with Democrat Joe Machin, a senator from the predominantly Republican state of West Virginia and whose vote is key to passing the bill, Biden said: "It takes time to finalize these agreements, prepare the legislative changes, and finish all the parliamentary and procedural steps needed to enable a Senate vote."

"We will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead," he said in a statement.

In other words, the initial hope of the Democratic president -- to have the bill definitively voted on before the end of the year -- seems to be fading.

"I believe that we will bridge our differences and advance the Build Back Better plan, even in the face of fierce Republican opposition," he said of his talks with Manchin.

The Build Back Better bill aims to funnel $1.75 trillion to lower the cost of childcare and drugs, support the purchasing power of households and to invest in the transition to clean energy.

Manchin considers the project to be too expensive and argues it will further fuel inflation, now a major concern for Biden and US consumers.

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has been angered at the attention the White House has been lavishing on the moderate Manchin to win him over to backing the bill.

Faced with the risk of a fracture within his own extremely thin parliamentary majority, the president has resorted to another central plank of his electoral campaign, one that is dear to civil rights activists: protecting minority voting rights that have been threatened by reforms in many conservative states.

"We want and we have to get the text 'Build Back Better'," Biden said. "At the same time, we need to move forward on voting rights legislation and move forward as quickly as possible... Our democracy depends on it," he said.