WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator and Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee John Boozman (R-AR) released the following statement after Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced his opposition to President Biden’s so-called Build Back Better Act: 

“The Biden administration and Democrats in Congress are learning the hard way what was apparent to most of us – they never had a mandate to radically transform our country. Their proposals to dramatically expand or create new government programs with a record-setting, multi-trillion-dollar price tag had many Americans fearing the predictable consequences: higher taxes, more regulations, and less power over their own lives. That’s why my Republican colleagues and I have fought these destructive ideas every step of the way.

“As ranking member of the Senate ag committee, I can tell you with certainty that even in failure, this broken process will have a lasting impact on the committee’s ability to come together over crucial legislation. Democrats set out to spend billions without any input from myself, my Republican colleagues on the committee or, perhaps most importantly, stakeholders from the agriculture industry and rural America. Not a single hearing was held to determine how to allocate these dollars. Our committee prides itself on its bipartisan history and by going this reckless route, the Democrats have made it far more difficult to work across party lines in the future.

“Now, it’s time to focus on the issues Americans are confronting like runaway inflation, breakdowns in our supply chain, labor shortages and other difficulties that complicate their lives, squeeze their budgets and make them question their family’s future. I encourage my Democratic colleagues to finally learn the lesson reality has been trying to teach them all year and work in a bipartisan way to help solve these challenges.”