Perhaps it’s poetic justice that one of the main stumbling blocks of President Joe Biden’s far-left agenda is a member of his own party. West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin is continuing his one-man mission to eat away at the pork-laden, budget-busting “Build Back Better” agenda.
Another Democrat, Arizona’s Krysten Sinema, often goes along with Manchin’s reticence to spend taxpayer money on phony climate-change mitigation schemes and social-welfare and union giveaways, but it’s Manchin who typically draws the headlines as well as the ire of the Democrat’s radical left-wing base.
On Thursday, Manchin let it be known that he is not in favor of a “Build Back Better” provision that would add an additional $4,500 in consumer rebates for electric vehicles made specifically by union workers.
During an event in his home state of West Virginia, Manchin told Automotive News that he opposed the legislation and called the provision introduced by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Representative Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) “wrong.”
“When I heard about this – what they were putting in the bill — I went right to the sponsor [Stabenow] and I said, ‘This is wrong. This can’t happen. It’s not who we are as a country. It’s not how we built this country, and the product should speak for itself,” Manchin said. “We shouldn’t use everyone’s tax dollars to pick winners and losers. If you’re a capitalist economy that we are in society then you let the product speak for itself, and hopefully, we’ll get that, that’ll be corrected.”
Stabenow apparently felt stabbed in the back, claiming that she stood with Manchin when he proposed legislation in 2019 that benefited union mine workers in his state of West Virginia.
“At that time, some argued his bill was unfair and was picking winners and losers. But we rejected that argument and stood together to protect union pensions,” Stabenow said. “This issue is no different. Standing up for hard working Americans is always the right thing to do.”
Perhaps Manchin’s priorities have changed. Or, maybe, he just understands that the coal miners in his state will be among the first workers dismissed in the new “green” economy being pushed in Biden’s agenda.
But it’s not just the “Build Back Better” legislation that Manchin’s centrism affects. Even President Biden’s nominees face scrutiny from the West Virginia senator. On Friday, Manchin came out squarely against Biden’s pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, Robert Califf, citing the nominee’s close ties to the pharmaceutical industry amid the opioid crisis.
“2020 was the deadliest year on record for drug related overdose deaths, with 1,386 and nearly 95,000 Americans dying from a drug-related overdose,” Manchin said. “I have made it abundantly clear that correcting the culture at the FDA is critical to changing the tide of the opioid epidemic.”
Manchin’s home state of West Virginia is one of those most affected by the opioid crisis, with 52.8 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in 2019, according to the CDC.
“Instead, Dr. Califf’s nomination and his significant ties to the pharmaceutical industry take us backwards not forward,” Manchin said. “His nomination is an insult to the many families and individuals who have had their lives changed forever as a result of addiction.”
Manchin’s reticence to blindly accept Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda has earned him the ire of progressive icons such a Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who took the unusual step of writing to Manchin’s own constituents in West Virginia, urging them to pressure Manchin to support the job-killing, budget-busting legislation.
Manchin answered the attack with aplomb: “This isn’t the first time an out-of-stater has tried to tell West Virginians what is best for them despite having no relationship to our state. I will not vote for a reckless expansion of government programs. No op-ed from a self-declared Independent socialist is going to change that.”
Even the New York Times is pressuring Manchin to fold on his principles. In a Friday op-ed, jouranlist Bryce Covert accused Manchin and Sinema of “forcing excruciating decisions between Democratic priorities” in the name of fiscal responsibility.
And well done, Senator Manchin. If the Democrat Party as a whole is unconcerned with runaway inflation and astronomical debt, at least one member of their party is.
Of course, Manchin is not perfect, but at least he’s doing what the people of West Virginia sent him to Washington to do. He’s looking out for the interests of his state in a time when many politicians are subservient to a new “green” economy based on the lies of the climate-change movement.
