During negotiations, Senator Joe Manchin publicly pulled his support from the bill for not matching his envisioned cost of about $1.75 trillion due to provisions that lasted for less than ten years.

After renegotiating the reduction of the Build Back Better Act's size, scope, and cost with Biden and Democratic congressional leaders, Manchin ultimately rejected the bill over the procedural tactics used.

[2] Before the bill was spun off from the American Jobs Plan (AJP), on April 5, 2021, Senator Joe Manchin proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 25%, instead of the 28% Biden originally called for.

[3] On May 25, Republican senators Pat Toomey and Roger Wicker indicated a lack of support within their caucus to change aspects of the 2017 tax act, and suggested repurposing unspent COVID-19 relief funds.

[6][7] On June 3, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced a tweaked AJP proposal that would not increase taxes on corporations, in exchange for closing loopholes and requiring them to pay at least 15%.

[9] On May 17, seven Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee signed a letter to the president asking him to prioritize enhanced unemployment insurance (UI) and direct payments (in the style of those included in response to COVID-19 and the related recession) in the AFP.

The letter cited Biden's promise to include the former adjusted to "economic conditions", but further that the latter also "served as [a lifeline] to families and workers that have had their lives upended by the pandemic".

[53] On August 1, Manchin restated his opinion that the bipartisan and reconciliation bills should remain separate, citing concerns about the latter including how it would be paid for and uncertainty regarding whether it would pass.

[69] On September 30, Politico reported that Manchin and Schumer secretly signed an agreement proposed by the former in July to limit the total cost of the reconciliation bill to $1.5 trillion.

[78] The next day, Pelosi set a new deadline of October 31,[79] having cited Biden's November trip to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference as a hopeful incentive.

[80] On October 3, Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal rejected Manchin's suggested spending limit,[81] as well as his insistence on including the Hyde Amendment in an expansion to Medicaid.

[99] On November 19, the bill was passed 220–213 by the House; only one Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted against it,[47] calling an increase in the SALT cap from $10,000 to $80,000 "a $275 billion tax giveaway to millionaires and the wealthy".

[113] On December 10, the CBO released a revised score at the request of senator Lindsey Graham and congressman Jason Smith to view the cost of the bill if certain provisions were extended for the full ten years,[114] although they are not actually set to.

[115][117][118] National Economic Council Director Brian Deese clarified that the revised score is of a "hypothetical future bill" that Biden would not support,[115] and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a memo to senators rebutting it as well as a Department of Labor report on the consumer price index indicating that inflation had reached its highest point in 40 years, which the White House attributes to supply-chain issues caused by the pandemic.

[111][129][130][131] Manchin also privately raised concerns that parents would use their child tax credit payments to buy drugs and abuse paid leave to go hunting during deer season, which shocked his colleagues.

[136] Manchin, the committee's chairman, also sought to raise onshore drilling royalty rates for the federal oil and gas leasing program to only 16.7% (from 12.5%), instead of the House bill's 18.75%.

[136] On December 16, Biden acknowledged that negotiations with Manchin and both parliamentary and procedural steps regarding reconciliation would delay the bill to 2022 but relayed his optimism that it would pass, as well as the competing priority of voting rights legislation.

[143][144][145][127] Manchin's proposal included universal pre-K funded for 10 years, expanded ACA subsidies, and climate change mitigation efforts, but notably excluded an extension of the child tax credit for which he has repeatedly voiced fiscal concerns.

[160] One day before the Senate reconvened on January 3, 2022, Axios reported that Manchin was willing to resume negotiations if the enhanced child tax credit was struck or modified to significantly lower the income caps governing eligibility.

[167] In February 2021 Romney had offered an alternative proposal for the child tax credit, which earned criticism from his GOP colleagues as "welfare assistance".

He said he thought the provisions for clean energy and early education could pass, but expressed doubt about the child tax credit and college tuition aid.

She asserted that the bill's provisions related to combatting climate change, expanding health care coverage, and lowering prescription drug costs should remain, but also expressed doubt on universal preschool and the child tax credit.

According to Kaine, who is close to Manchin, his party was aiming to pass pieces of the legislation during the spring, preferably by Memorial Day, or before the congressional recess in August 2022.

[188] In July, Senate Democrats reached an agreement to end a tax loophole to extend the solvency of Medicare, lower prescription drug prices and raise at least $250 billion in revenue.

[192] The bill, which includes provisions on tax, health care, and climate and energy spending, was introduced in the Senate as an amendment to the Build Back Better Act.

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal called for executive action on those provisions in light of Manchin expressing his opposition to the bill.

[207] As such, adding coverage for hearing services would help Medicare beneficiaries who otherwise would not be able to afford treatment, receive the care they need and improve health outcomes.

[212] A Data for Progress/Fighting Chance for Families poll found that support for making the child tax credit permanent (which the bill is only set to continue for a year) was about 50%.

[216] In a letter sent to eight Senate leaders, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Chrystia Freeland and International Trade Minister Mary Ng detailed their concerns with the extra $4,500 EV tax credit for American-made (union-manufactured) vehicles and threatened that if it is passed, Canada would retaliate by launching a dispute settlement process under the USMCA along with tariffs targeting various American industries, including the auto sector and dairy.

The letter was signed by the ambassadors of the EU, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Ireland, Cyprus, Sweden, Malta, Spain, Netherlands, France, Austria, South Korea, Greece, Canada, Belgium, Finland, Slovenia, Mexico, Slovakia, Japan, Estonia, Italy, and Romania.