On Friday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) dubbed President Joe Biden’s major legislative initiative a program of “full social realignment.”
What did Manchin say?
In an interview on a West Virginia radio program, Manchin expressed his real feelings about the president’s “Build Back Better” initiative and why he is unwilling to back it.
Manchin said, “The Build Back Better approach was a total social realignment — everything you could throw at it, as they say. “
“I was absolutely clear when the president and I spoke, telling him, ‘Mr. President, this piece of legislation will alter our nation from when John F. Kennedy said to ask your country not what it can do for you but what we can do for our country,’ which will transform us to how much more your country can do for you.”
“We’re $30.5 trillion in debt and rising, and we must be serious about it. However, inflation is wreaking havoc on the lives of everyone. I don’t care where you’re on the social ladder,” Manchin revealed. “That’s why that one was killed. There will never be another Build Back Better.”
After sinking, at least for now, the Democrats’ latest bid to pass a huge spending package, Manchin is defending himself.
However, the centrist Democrat clarified on Friday that he is not opposed to his party’s policy ideas, particularly those that focus on energy and the environment. His worry is not making the inflation problem worse.
In fact, after the consumer price index reported that year-over-year inflation rose 9.1% in June, Manchin promised he would not back any new spending measures in the near future.
What are Democrats saying?
John Yarmuth, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, revealed last Tuesday there is “unprecedented anger” among Democratic lawmakers towards Manchin for repeatedly blocking Biden’s platform.
“We’re all on our way to dying,” Yarmuth added of Manchin’s efforts to put the brakes on Democratic climate efforts, according to NBC News.
“We’ve got one individual who’s attempting to force his own ideology on the country as a whole, and that’s a shame,” he continued. “Unfortunately, we have one Democrat who believes he knows better than everyone else.”
Staffers for Senate Democrats “seethed and wept” after Manchin announced he would not immediately back the latest budget bill, according to The New York Times.
