China Competition Bill Will Fail If Democrats Pursue Revised Build Back Better Bill: McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on July 7 that Republicans will block the passage of a bill to increase U.S. competitiveness with China if Democrats do not drop efforts to revive the Build Back Better (BBB) social spending package.

In December 2021, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) effectively killed the $1.75 trillion BBB package when he said he would not vote for it over continuing concerns about inflation. Since then, some Democrats have worked behind the scenes to revive the package.

These efforts have picked up steam recently, winning the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) who has worked to negotiate a smaller package focused mostly on climate policy with Manchin.

Reportedly, the newest iteration of BBB would spend around $500 billion on climate programs, would bolster some aspects of Obamacare, and would offset new expenditures by undoing many of the tax cuts in President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

To pass the bill, which would almost certainly have no GOP support, Democrats would need to use the reconciliation process. Under reconciliation rules, only 51 votes are needed in the upper chamber, allowing the majority to overshoot the 60-vote filibuster threshold that must be overcome for most other types of legislation.

Now, McConnell has re-upped demands that Democrats nix this effort if they want necessary GOP support for a bill aimed at increasing competitiveness with China.

“Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan [competitiveness bill] as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill,” McConnell wrote in a June 30 tweet.

The competitiveness bill is a top priority for both congressional leaders and the White House. Prior to these revamped efforts, the bill seemed set for an easy passage to President Joe Biden’s desk.

On Feb. 4, Democrats passed their

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