Joe Manchin strung Democrats again as he killed most of Biden’s agenda. It should not have surprised us as he’s but a tool.
Joe Manchin hangs Democrats and his constituents to dry.
As I am about to sleep, this New York Times article jolts across my screen, “Manchin Pulls Plug on Climate and Tax Talks, Shrinking Domestic Plan.” I expected it, but it is still infuriating. The reality is that Joe Manchin has us by the “pelotas.” All we can do is wait him out. But make no mistake, we must win in 2022 to get at least a net two more senators. Most importantly, we must defeat Joe Manchin in 2024.
Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, pulled the plug on Thursday on negotiations to salvage key pieces of President Biden’s agenda, informing his party’s leaders that he would not support funding for climate or energy programs or raising taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations.
The decision by Mr. Manchin, a conservative-leaning Democrat whose opposition has effectively stalled Mr. Biden’s economic package in the evenly divided Senate, dealt a devastating blow to his party’s efforts to enact a broad social safety net, climate and tax package.
In recent months, Democrats had slashed their ambitions for such a plan to win over Mr. Manchin, hoping that he would agree to support even a fraction of the sweeping initiative they once envisioned. His abrupt shift appeared to dash those aspirations.
So how evil is Manchin?
In rejecting any climate and energy provisions, Mr. Manchin appeared to have single-handedly shattered Mr. Biden’s ambitious climate agenda and what would have been the largest single federal investment in American history toward addressing the toll of climate change.
His decision came just days after a report showed that prices surged to 9.1 percent in June, exacerbating existing fears about inflation and rising costs for every day Americans. But while Mr. Manchin has long sounded alarms about inflation and the national debt, he had also maintained openness to overhauling the tax code, a position he appeared to have reversed.
It stunned Democratic officials who had labored to win Mr. Manchin’s vote. As recently as Friday, Democrats said they had coalesced around a plan to use the funds from raising taxes on some high-earning Americans to extend the solvency of a key Medicare fund.
But it was particularly devastating for those who had championed the climate and energy provisions. In calls to various climate activists on Thursday night, Mr. Schumer and his staff sounded shellshocked and said they believed until just a few hours before that a deal was still possible, said one person who spoke with Mr. Schumer.
Manchin may want to use inflation to not invest in humans and climate change. He is ensuring that the wealthy pay no penalty for price gouging. He is complicit.
Manchin ensures that in a close Senate, he can become the tool of the Right. As such, it does that matter whether Democrats are in control. America, in that scenario, always defaults to Republican failed policies.
We have a lot of work to do. We get the government we vote for or allow others to vote for with our implicit non-voting consent.