Sen. Joe Manchin Is A Judas Who Sold His Soul To The Carbon Monopoly For Thirty Pieces of Silver (Campaign Contributions)

So there was this WTF? report in Newsweek (and elsewhere). The “Grim Reaper of Democracy” is praying that Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema kill Joe Biden’s American Families Plan, which is the $3.5 billion budget reconciliation plan.

The Prince of Darkness must be praying to Satan if he wants to inflict more harm on American families than he already has during his unfortunately long career.

Newsweek reports, McConnell ‘Gives’ Manchin and Sinema ‘Lots of Love’ for Infrastructure Bill Opposition:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has praised Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona for opposing their party’s $3.5 trillion spending proposal.

McConnell expressed his appreciation for the moderate senators during a lunchtime speech at the Rotary Club in Paducah, Kentucky on Wednesday. He lamented that the Senate was “down to two” Democrats who were “resisting” the agenda of their own party before naming both Manchin and Sinema.

“I pray for them every night, I wish them well, we give them lots of love,” McConnell said while smiling as a small amount of laughter was heard from the audience. “There’s not a single member of my party in the House or Senate who are going to vote for this monstrosity. It is wildly inappropriate for our country.”

What concerns the Prince of Darkness the most? The estate tax. (About 4,100 estate tax returns will be filed for people who die in 2020, of which only about 1,900 will be taxable—less than 0.1 percent of the 2.8 million people expected to die in that year. How many people pay the estate tax?) In other words, the Grim Reaper sheds crocodile tears for billionaire Plutocrats.

While answering questions after the speech, McConnell said that he hoped “Manchin and Sinema will dig in their heels” by opposing the bill’s provision to change the way that inherited property is taxed—a move that the senator said would be “a dramatic step in literally the direction of confiscating your property at death.”

Note: The wealthy avoid payment of taxes on the stepped up basis of their wealth during their lifetime, then they also want to pass it on to their heirs without any tax liability. This is in no way “confiscation,” it is actually a weak IRS attempt to recover taxes that the wealthy have avoided paying during their lifetime.

McConnell also said that although he did not expect Manchin and Sinema to entirely block the bill, they could use their position to force “dramatic changes” to the proposal.

“Since there’s no votes to spare, either one of them could kill the whole bill,” the Republican from Kentucky said. “I don’t expect that to happen. Either one of them could make dramatic changes in it. That could happen. Or, either one of them could basically make a few cosmetic changes and throw in the towel. That’s what I hope doesn’t happen.”

This WTF? report was followed up by another on Tuesday. What’s Joe Manchin Doing Flying To Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky?

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) took a private flight to Kentucky, where he made a brief afternoon stop in Mitch McConnell’s home state. What is Manchin up to?

The last time Joe Manchin took an out-of-state trip that got people talking, he went to Texas for a fossil fuels lobbyist fundraiser.

Manchin is the chair of the Senate committee that conducts oversight on the fossil fuel industry, and there is a lot of coal money in Kentucky. The logical explanation is that Manchin was likely in Kentucky to either meet with donors or promise someone that he is going to work to get the climate change provisions out of the reconciliation bill.

Sen. Manchin isn’t going to change parties. There has been zero chatter among Democrats about Joe Manchin leaving. Manchin also isn’t likely to be meeting with McConnell on the filibuster.

What we know from Sen. Manchin’s public statements is that he has problems with the cost and the climate change provisions in the reconciliation bill.

If Manchin is actively working to climate change out of the reconciliation bill, that is a problem that Democrats will have to address.

And yet another WTF? report at Axios, about a bogus push poll done by Joe Lieberman’s billionaire investors and corporate executives No Labels organization. Exclusive poll: Americans favor Manchin’s “strategic pause”. Actually, no they do not.

Frank Newport for Gallup reports, U.S. Public Opinion and the $3.5 Trillion Senate Budget Plan:

I’ve located several recent polls that ask about the bill in a broad, umbrella fashion, and all find majority support. A Quinnipiac poll conducted July 27-Aug. 2 found 62% support, 32% opposition. A Monmouth University poll conducted July 21-26 found 63% in favor and 35% opposed.

A progressive think tank, Data for Progress, conducted an online poll among likely voters July 30-Aug. 2, found 66% of likely voters in their sample supported the plan as described, while 26% opposed it — similar to the Quinnipiac and Monmouth results.

In short, existing survey evidence shows majority support for the new bill, and this level of support appears to be fairly robust across samples and ways of asking about it.

Earlier, Leaked Audio of Sen. Joe Manchin Call With Billionaire Donors Provides Rare Glimpse of Dealmaking On Filibuster And Jan. 6 Commission “The meeting was hosted by the group No Labels, a big money operation co-founded by former Sen. Joe Lieberman that funnels high-net-worth donor money to conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans.” This would be the same billionaires for whom Mitch McConnell sheds crocodile tears.

We have a saboteur, a Judas in the Democratic Party who has sold his soul for thirty pieces of silver to the Carbon Monopoly, which is killing our planet and the human race. Manchin wants to let their “good times” continue to roll.

CNN reports Manchin lays out long list of demands as key Senate chairs move to win his vote:

The West Virginia Democrat and his staff have been engaged for weeks in intensive negotiations with the chairs of key Senate committees ahead of his party’s release of a sprawling bill to expand the social safety net, laying down his demands on a wide-range of issues: health care, education, child care and taxes, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks.

And Manchin is making clear he won’t cave on aggressive climate provisions sought by many Democrats, throwing a wrench in his party’s efforts to make the bill key to combating global warming.

With Democrats needing every vote in their caucus to get the bill through the Senate along straight party lines, Manchin has received more attention than any other Democrat, even as others — like Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — have also balked at the $3.5 trillion price tag. Indeed, as committee chairs have held regular meetings with their members over the summer recess to shape key provisions of legislation under their jurisdiction, they often will later have individual meetings with Manchin, even if he doesn’t serve on their respective committees.

[M]anchin and his staff have been in consistent talks with Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon, a committee where the two powerful Democrats have clashed over several key provisions central to financing the proposal, including on corporate tax hikes, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Wyden has had weekly Zoom meetings with his committee members on individual areas of their proposal, but has made sure to have regular talks with Manchin — either with him directly or through his staff.

And Manchin has engaged in long discussions with rank-and-file Democrats as well, including Sen. Michael Bennet over the Colorado Democrat’s push to broaden and bolster the child tax credit, which the West Virginian wants to bring down to a level far lower than what many in his party want, multiple Democrats said.

On education, Manchin is trying to limit the Democrats’ efforts to provide universal pre-K and tuition-free community college. He’s talked to Democrats about limiting the number of Americans eligible for pre-K by setting income thresholds, while also discussing ways to measure students’ performance for community college assuming their tuition is paid for over two years. And on health care, Manchin has suggested substantially reducing funding for home-care services, a key priority of many Democrats.

The private discussions come amid Manchin’s public call last week in a Wall Street Journal op-ed for a “strategic pause” in consideration of the expensive bill, which Democrats are trying to advance through a process known as budget reconciliation since it can be approved along straight party lines in the 50-50 Senate. Democratic leaders want to resolve their disagreements and have a proposal ready by September 15.

Note: On Wednesday, five House Panels Began Writing $3.5 Trillion Social Policy and Climate Bill. They have one week.

The talks underscore the challenges ahead for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who needs to win over Manchin but also avoid provoking a revolt among progressives — particularly in the House — who are already balking at the West Virginia’s private suggestion to bring the price tag of the overall bill down to around $1.5 trillion. And without Senate passage of the reconciliation bill, House progressives are warning they’ll derail the Senate’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan that Manchin was central in negotiating.

“The idea of a $1.5 trillion price tag being sufficient to accomplish those goals for the people is fanciful,” Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive Democrat from New York, said on CNN.

What remains to be seen is whether the Senate chairs ultimately cater to Manchin’s demands or try to railroad him into making a choice: Approve the most sweeping piece of domestic legislation in decades — or be responsible for sinking it singlehandedly.

Steamroll this hillbilly coal baron from West Virginia. He does not get to make demands at the eleventh hour. Any failure will be squarely on his head. He will be to blame, and should be reviled by West Virginians and all Americans (well, except Mitch McConnell). Enough pandering to this Judas.

“We’re moving full steam ahead,” Schumer said Wednesday, rejecting Manchin’s much-publicized call last week for a “strategic pause” in consideration of the bill.

Schumer and Manchin — who have long had a frank and collegial relationship — have been in constant talks throughout the month of August and was not caught off-guard by Manchin’s op-ed last week, multiple sources say. Schumer knows full well that he needs to keep his most important swing vote at bay, in addition to Sinema, who has already said she’d oppose a bill that costs $3.5 trillion.

“There are some in my caucus who believe $3.5 trillion is too much. There are some in my caucus who believe it’s too little,” Schumer said Wednesday. “And we’re going to work very hard to have unity because without unity, we’re not going to get anything.”

To get unity, the committee chairs have been working to ensure that Manchin is not caught off guard by provisions in their plan that they hope to unveil next week.

Helen Hare, a spokeswoman for Murray, said the Washington state Democrat spoke with Manchin and has had “regular conversations” with her committee members since last month. “She’s talking to lots of senators with the goal of getting the strongest possible agreement on free community college, child care and all the other policies she’s working to get across the finish line,” the spokeswoman said.

Some issues may be unresolvable — such as climate change. Manchin, who represents a major coal-producing state, has balked at Democratic proposals to impose a clean energy standard to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Democrats have also discussed including a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, something that could lead to industry’s use of cleaner-burning fuels.

But Manchin has not been amenable to the aggressive climate targets, leaving it unclear where the talks will land.

“If they’re eliminating fossils, and I’m finding out there’s a lot of language in places they’re eliminating fossils, which is very, very disturbing, because if you’re sticking your head in the sand, and saying that fossil (fuel) has to be eliminated in America, and they want to get rid of it, and thinking that’s going to clean up the global climate, it won’t clean it up all,” Manchin told CNN in July of his party’s plans. “If anything, it would be worse.”

Bury this dinosaur and make a fossil fuel out of him. Enough already. It is our children’s and grandchildren’s future that matter. Not some corrupt politician with the short-term goal of campaign contributions. This damn fool should realize that his political career is at an end. There is no way Manchin will be reelected in 2024. He should do the right thing for future generations, and then retire at the end of his term.

Final thought: Just what the hell is Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s story?