Cori Bush Decries Joe Manchin’s Concerns about $1.75 Trillion Infrastructure Bill as ‘Anti-Black,’ ‘Anti-Immigrant’

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) said in a statement Monday that Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) concerns about the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act are “anti-black, anti-child, anti-woman, and anti-immigrant.”

Manchin, one of the key swing votes for Democrats in the Senate, said Monday that he would not consider voting for the Build Back Better Act without knowing about the bill’s impact on inflation and the deficit.

The West Virginia Democrat also decried leftists holding the $1.2 trillion so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill “hostage.”

“This is a recipe for economic crises,” Manchin said.

Bush said she does not trust Manchin’s beliefs in what America needs in the mammoth Build Back Better Act.

“I trust the scientists who have shown us what our future will look like if we fail to meaningfully address the climate crisis. I trust the patients and doctors crying out for comprehensive health coverage for every person in America,” she said.

Bush added, “When I promised St. Louis a historic investment in children, in our seniors, in housing, and in our schools, I said that I would do everything I can to actually deliver change that our community can feel.”

“Joe Manchin’s opposition to the Build Back Better Act is anti-Black, anti-child, anti-woman, and anti-immigrant. When we talk about transformative change, we are talking about a bill that will benefit Black, brown, and Indigenous communities,” the progressive Democrat declared.

“Those same communities are overwhelmingly excluded from the bipartisan infrastructure bill. We cannot leave anyone behind. Senator Manchin must support the Build Back Better Act,” she added.

"Those same communities are overwhelmingly excluded from the bipartisan infrastructure bill. We cannot leave anyone behind.

Senator Manchin must support the Build Back Better Act."

— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@RepCori) November 1, 2021

This is not the first time a progressive Democrat injected race into the infrastructure negotiations.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said in June that the bipartisan infrastructure group crafting the $1.2 trillion bill was all white, thereby contributing to “structural racism.”

She wrote:

That’s why folks can sometimes come across as careless when saying “well isn’t something better than nothing?” For many communities, their not having a seat at the table is a precondition for bipartisan deals to work in the 1st place. & that’s not only seen as normal, but valued. Meanwhile, when representatives of excluded communities object to the exclusion &marginalization required to make many bipartisan deals work, they’re dismissed as “unreasonable.”

Ocasio-Cortez added, “So who/what often benefits from this type of bipartisan dealmaking? Corporations & structural racism.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.