(Photo : Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 27: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) leaves the U.S. Capitol after a vote October 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. Democrats are continuing internal negotiations about the Biden administration's social policy spending bill.
Joe Manchin recently forced Democrats to drop their paid leave proposal as part of Joe Biden's Build Back Better program because he disapproved of it.
After weeks of negotiations, Senate Democrats failed to get Manchin's approval to provide sick Americans and those taking care of their ailing relatives' financial benefit.
Before a decision was made, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand confirmed that she presented her idea to Manchin, and the latter looked at the details and compared it with what other countries are doing.
But on Wednesday, it was announced that Senate Democrats were forced to drop the universal paid leave bill because Manchin refused to get on board.
Earlier this week, Manchin said he doesn't think the universal paid leave bill should be part of the reconciliation bill. After all, the latter is a major policy, according to the Huffington Post.
According to reports, only 20 percent of workers in the private sector have access to paid family leave. And only 42 percent have access to paid medical leave while recovering from an illness or injury.
Throughout the past couple of months, Biden proposed a bill that would give employees 12 weeks of paid leave over ten years. In an attempt to get Manchin's approval, the POTUS decided to limit the paid leave to just four months.
Joe Manchin criticized for not supporting universal paid leave bill
However, Senate Democrats still didn't get Manchin on their side.
Following his decision, the senator was criticized by Vicki Shabo, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
"The fact that this one older white gentleman, who perhaps has never had to contend with family caregiving or the risk of losing his job or being unable to pay his bills, could stand in the way of paid leave for nearly 20 million people a year is shocking and upsetting," she said via Yahoo! News.
Dawn Huckelbridge, director of Paid Leave for All, also slammed Manchi and said she could not believe one white man could make this huge decision.
However, Huckelbridge also acknowledged that the failed negotiations were a failure on the part of the government.
Joe Manchin refuses to support Biden's climate agenda
Other than the universal paid leave, Manchin and Sen. Krysten Sinema are also blocking Biden's climate agenda. The POTUS's main goal is to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions to half of 2005 levels.
According to the BBC, Biden met with the two senators last weekend to talk about the climate agenda, among other things. Manchin and Sinema are both opposed to the bill that Biden is trying to pass.
Manchin said that he is more amenable to investments in renewable resources as long as they are tied by research to make fossil fuel cleaner.
The coal industry also dominates West Virginia's economy. In 2019 alone, the industry contributed $19.1 billion to the state, and it also provided 27,000 jobs to residents. As such, Manchin's refusal to not support Biden's climate agenda is not necessarily surprising.
Related Article: Joe Biden Ends Bid for Free Community College, Says His Plans for Paid Leave is Shrinking Due to Lack of Support From 50 Democratic Senators
