Above: h/t CrooksAndLiars blog.
Gen. Benedict Arnold can rest easily tonight, knowing that he has finally been replaced by Sen. Joe Manchin as the new face of “American traitor.”
For the past year, Sen. Joe Manchin has been working as a GQP “mole” inside the Democratic Party, undermining legislation that the Democratic Caucus and the overwhelming majority of Americans want, lying about how he is negotiating in good faith to the feckless news media who hang on his word salad incoherence as if he has anything relevant to say, while all along he was engaged in subterfuge, trying to string along the Democratic Caucus with his ever shifting demands in an attempt to run out the clock.
On Friday, the “Grim Reaper of Democracy,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said ‘It would be a great idea’ for Manchin to switch parties.The comment came after McConnell and Manchin had a meeting as negotiations continue for President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, The Associated Press reported.
This is wrong. Sen. Manchin is much more valuable to Mitch McConnell as a mole inside the Democratic Party for political messaging, the only thing McConnell really cares about. Manchin allows the feckless news media to report their favorite meme “Dems divided,” and to say that “Democrats failed,” or “Joe Biden failed to unite his party,” when in fact it is every Seditionist Republican in Congress who is engaged in McConnell’s policy of “total obstruction” to undermine democracy, aided and abetted by two prima donna diva Democratic senators, Sens. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
But for these two Democratic senators appeasing the enemies of democracy, the Democrats would have already enacted their voting rights legislation and Biden’s Build Back better agenda months ago.
Sen. Joe Manchin went on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News Sunday (sans Chris Wallace) today to give up the game. Manchin announced “I have decided that you will not be getting the nice things you were all expecting for Christmas. Instead I have decided that you will all get my dirty coal in your stockings for Christmas. Merry Christmas!” ‘This is a no’: Joe Manchin goes on Fox News to officially kill Biden’s legislative agenda:
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced on Sunday that he will not allow President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda to go forward.
Manchin made the remarks on Fox News Sunday with guest host Bret Baier.
“I had my reservations from the beginning and I’ve been working diligently,” Manchin explained. “I’ve done everything humanly possible” [to undermine this bill. Now I am killing it.]
Manchin blamed his decision to vote against Biden agenda on rising inflation and the Covid-19 Omicron variant.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation, I just can’t,” Manchin said. “I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there.”
I have previously explained that this ignorant hillbilly doesn’t know squat about economics. See Catherine Rampell, Yes, inflation is worrisome. But it has little relevance to the debate over Build Back Better. for more analysis.
Earlier this week Manchin was trying to zero out the child tax credit that millions of Americans are relying on to get by in this pandemic which he feigns to be concerned about. See Jennifer Rubin, Manchin’s objections to Build Back Better make no political or policy sense.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) noted in a recent analysis that Democrats’ program “increased the child tax credit for more than 65 million U.S. children—roughly 90% of children.” In its current form, the Build Back Better Act would extend the program for another year. “An estimated 9.9 million children are at risk of slipping back below the poverty line or deeper into poverty if the expansion is not extended,” CBPP warned. That’s on Joe Manchin and the Sedition Party he is appeasing.
“You’re done,” Baier pressed. “This is a no.”
“This is a no,” Manchin agreed. “I have tried everything I know to do and the president has worked diligently. He’s been wonderful to work with.”
The truth is that Joe Manchin was always a “no” vote from the early days of January because of the climate change provisions in this bill. Did I mention he is a coal baron? He has been lying to his Democratic colleagues all along with ever shifting demands and vague promises of cooperation, only to string them along and to run out the clock for the GQP.
Manchin, we know, has billionaire Trump supporter Nelson Peltz whispering in his ear on a weekly basis, encouraging him to undermine the Build Back Better plan. Peltz wants to keep, if not expand, the tax cuts Trump doled out to the wealthiest Americans. Back in 2016, Peltz forwarded the Republican big lie about tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, that they help the economy, pay for themselves, and create jobs. He said back then, “If he gets the kind of tax reductions he’s talking about, we will wind up having more employment, more companies coming back to the United States.” Of course, large corporations that lobbied for the Trump tax cuts, like At&T and Wells Fargo, raked in billions of dollars in tax cuts while cutting tens of thousands of jobs.
Manchin isn’t worried about fiscal responsibility; he’s worried, in tried and true Republican fashion, about serving the interests and doing the bidding of the wealthy.
On Thursday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) complained that prima donna Democratic divas Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are ‘Acting Like Republicans’: Sanders Rips Manchin and Sinema for Betraying US Families:
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Thursday called out fellow Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for “acting like Republicans” as they continue to withhold support from their party’s popular legislative agenda.
“You got 50 people in the Republican caucus,” Sanders said in an appearance on MSNBC Thursday night, amid reports that the Senate GOP is “watching from the sidelines with glee” as Build Back Better talks falter.
“We have gotten no support from them to lower the cost of prescription drugs, to expand Medicare to include dental, hearing, eyeglasses,” said Sanders. “No support from them for child care, for housing… No support to deal with the existential threat of climate change.”
“You got 48 people in the Democratic caucus… and a president of the United States prepared to think big,” the Vermont senator continued. “And you have two Democrats who, in my view, are kind of acting like Republicans.”
Sanders, who helped craft the original $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan that has since been slashed in half by corporate Democrats, said that while he respects the alternative viewpoints of his colleagues, “I do not respect the arrogance of any member of the Senate who says, ‘You know what, I’m going to torpedo this entire bill,'” which the Vermont senator noted is popular with the U.S. public, including 89% of Democratic voters.
“You got two people who say, ‘You know what, hey if you don’t do it my way—I don’t care what the president wants, I don’t care what 48 of my colleagues want—it’s my way or the highway,'” Sanders said. “And that I regard as arrogance… You fight for your ideas, but you don’t say, ‘My way or the highway.'”
Senator Bernie Sanders torches Manchin and Sinema for their “arrogance” and “acting like Republicans”. pic.twitter.com/6AZFIRlfvC
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) December 17, 2021
Sen Bernie Sanders responded to “Traitor Joe” Manchin’s betrayal of his party and American families on Fox News Sunday. Bernie Sanders Slams Gutless Joe Manchin And Demand Vote On BBB:
After Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced that he will not vote for Build Back Better, Sen. Bernie Sanders called him gutless. [I would have gone with craven coward.]
Sen. Sanders said on CNN’s State Of The Union in response to Manchin announcing that he is a no on Build Back Better:
Sen. Bernie Sanders says Sen. Joe Manchin doesn't have the guts to stand up to the drug companies and special interests, "He'll have a lot of explaining to do to the people of with West Virginia to tell him he doesn't have the guts to take on the drug companies." pic.twitter.com/5lAcVhhNEN
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) December 19, 2021
He’ll have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia to tell them he doesn’t have the guts to take on the drug companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs, why he is not prepared to expand home health care, West Virginia, one of the poorest states this country, elderly people and disabled people who would like to stay at home, are forced into nursing homes, he has to tell the people of West Virginia why he doesn’t want to expand medicare to cover dental, hearing and eyeglasses.
West Virginia is a great state, beautiful people but it is a state that is struggling. He’s going to have to tell the people of West Virginia why he rejects what the scientists of the world are telling us that we have to act boldly and transform our energy system to protect future generations from the devastation of climate change. What’s going on in Washington is the big money interests are importing hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure that we continue to pay the highest prices in the world for the prescription drugs the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes. I hoped to have at least 50 Democrats on board who have the guts to stand up for working families and take on the lobbyists and the powerful special interests. With no Republicans, not one Republican in the United States Senate or the House for that matter is prepared to stand up to the drug companies or the insurance companies or wealthy.
I hoped to have 50 Democrats. If that is the case then I hope we will bring a strong bill to the floor of the senate as soon as we can and let Mr. Manchin explain to the people of West Virginia why he doesn’t have the guts to stand up to powerful special interests.
No Easy Way Out For Joe Manchin
Joe Manchin has had it easy so far. He hasn’t been forced to come to the Senate floor, look the people of West Virginia in the eye, and say that he rejects the child tax credit and lowering the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs.
Sen. Sanders was right. Manchin does lack guts, and it is time for Democrats to hold his feet to the fire and put him on the record as acting against the best interests of many people in West Virginia.
There must be consequences. Take away his committee chairmanship, and move his Senate office to a maintenance closet by the time he returns in January. You do not get to lie to your Senate colleagues to undermine their major legislative agenda for a whole year and not suffer any consequences.
And for those of you who say, “oh, but we need this ignorant hillbilly coal baron for a Democratic majority in the Senate” – you have a Democratic majority in name only now when two prima donna Democratic diva senators are appeasing the enemies of democracy at every turn. They are enabling the “Grim Reaper of Democracy,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, and the enemies of democracy in the Sedition Party.
As I said, Mitch McConnell is getting the political messaging he desires, the only thing McConnell really cares about. Manchin allows the feckless news media to report their favorite meme “Dems divided,” and to say that “Democrats failed,” or “Joe Biden failed to unite his party.” This is what is producing the poll numbers we have seen.
I am so disgusted with and pissed off at Sens. Manchin and Sinema at the moment, I tend to agree with Tim Librettii: It’s Time for Democrats to Play Hardball and Jettison Manchin and Sinema (excerpt):
Ousting them from the party will do more to save Biden’s agenda in the short and long term than continuing to cajole and placate the irrational and disingenuous game-players that Manchin and Sinema are.
It should be clear that neither Senator has approached negotiations over this legislation in good faith. They either don’t or won’t say what the legislation needs to look like for them to endorse it, or, particularly in the case of Manchin, they keep moving the goalposts.
Their bad faith is most evident when it comes to their fallback insistence on bi-partisanship, which they both invoke routinely as the rationale behind their resistance, if not outright refusal, to pass legislation with exclusively Democratic votes.
But you only have to think about their behaviors and positions for two seconds to realize how ridiculous—and ridiculously hypocritical—their positions are.
First, consider this point: they complain that the Democrats need to do more to work and compromise with Republicans to earn the support of both parties for effective legislation. Yet, Manchin and Sinema will not even negotiate and compromise with members of their own party.
A bill that once had a price tag of $3 billion has been whittled down to under $2 trillion [to appease Joe Manchin’s demands], quite a concession by progressive Democrats, and still, we see no movement from either Manchin or Sinema.
And the Progressive Caucus, in good faith, voted for their bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill, in a gentleman’s agreement that these two divas would in return vote for the Build Back Better reconciliation bill. Now these corporate Democrats are reneging on that gentleman’s agreement. Manchin is not a man of his word, this will destroy any trust among the Democratic Caucus. He just stuck a knife in the back of the Progressive Caucus after lying to them to get what he wanted.
They aren’t exemplifying the kind of willingness to negotiate and compromise that they exalt as the standard of bi-partisanship.
Rather, they are reveling in the very kind of autocratic politics that has been coming to the fore as an imminent and brewing threat to American democracy.
They are wielding power to assert minority rule, not to forward the deliberate and messy compromises of democracy in action.
[M]anchin and Sinema, Democrats need to see and accept, have no interest in passing legislation, only in delaying and obstructing, with the final effect of damaging, if not destroying, the Democrats’ chances of maintaining majorities in the House and Senate.
[A] vast majority of West Virginians support the content of Biden’s Build Back Better plan, but Manchin, it seems, couldn’t care less about representing their interests. He has abandoned the principles of representative democracy.
And, when it comes to Sinema, frankly, who knows what she’s up to.
What we can know, if we observe honestly, is that these two are playing games and not negotiating in good faith.
Democrats need to cut them off. Make them vote against legislation that offers so much support and equity for American workers and their families. Make them own their positions.
Better yet, kick them out of the party. If they believe so deeply in bi-partisanship, they can work with Democrats from their positions among Senate Republicans.
As it is, what is happening now is the obstructionist politics of Manchin and Sinema are enabling the media to frame the stalling of the Build Back Better legislation as a failure of the Democratic Party, implicitly conveying that somehow the solution to the Congress’s failure to pass transformational legislation people want is to turn to Republicans who have done nothing but sow hate and division while serving the wealthy.
Obviously, the real problem is that Republicans don’t care about addressing climate change, decreasing child poverty, making tax codes more equitable, and doing anything to help American families by distributing the substantial American pie more equitably.
And Manchin and Sinema don’t either. So treat them like the Republicans they are and kick them out of the Democratic Party, so it’s clear who and which party is failing the American people.
It’s time to stop cajoling these two and to take them to task for the liars and bad-faith actors they are.
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Reuters reports on Monday, “Schumer vows action on social policy, voting rights bills despite setback”, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/schumer-says-senate-vote-biden-plan-despite-manchin-objections-2021-12-20/
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday vowed to vote on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan early next year despite opposition from a key Democratic senator that drew White House rebuke, and to bring forward voting rights legislation.
“The Senate will, in fact, consider the Build Back Better Act, very early in the new year so that every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television,” Schumer wrote in a letter to colleagues.
A vote would force Manchin to publicly record his objection to the bill ahead of the elections, in which Democrats seek to keep control of the Senate as well as the House of Representatives.
“We are going to vote on a revised version of the House-passed Build Back Better Act – and we will keep voting on it until we get something done,” Schumer wrote.
VOTING RIGHTS
Schumer also said Congress’ upper chamber would consider voting rights legislation soon after returning from its holiday recess in January and would look at changing procedural rules if Republicans “continue to abuse the filibuster” to block the bill.
“If the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, then how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the Republican Party can debate and pass voter suppression laws at the state level with only a simple majority vote, but not allow the United States Senate to do the same?” he wrote.
Manchin has also balked at eliminating the filibuster to take up the voting rights legislation as has fellow moderate Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.
UPDATE: The majority leader’s letter added, “I believe our constituents deserve to know which Senators choose to hide behind ill-conceived and abused rules and which Senators prefer to restore Senate floor procedures to better align with the Founders’ intentions. As Former Senator Robert C. Byrd said in 1979, Senate rules that seemed appropriate in the past ‘must be changed to reflect changed circumstances.'”
Oooh, a good dig at Megalomaniac Manchin with a reminder of a West Virginia legend whose seat he holds.
Make the Senate vote (multiple times) and make these senators own their votes. No more wasting time on negotiating with these bad faith actors.
HuffPost reports, “Joe Manchin Privately Told Colleagues Parents Use Child Tax Credit Money On Drugs”, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-manchin-build-back-better-child-tax-credit-drugs_n_61bf8f6be4b061afe394006d
Privately, [wealthy coal baron] Joe Manchin has told his colleagues that he essentially doesn’t trust low-income people to spend government money wisely.
In recent months, Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children, according to two sources familiar with the senator’s comments.
—
Joe Manchin was the former Governor of West Virginia before gracing us with his presence in the Senate. He was a miserable failure at preventing an opioid epidemic in his state. His wealthy elitist view of the poor is colored by his state’s excessive addiction to “hillbilly heroine,” which is not reflective of Americans living elsewhere.
From the Attorney General’s Office of West Virginia, “Fighting Substance Abuse”, https://ago.wv.gov/consumerprotection/Fighting%20Substance%20Abuse/Pages/default.aspx
“West Virginia has one of the highest rates in the country of non-medical use of prescription pain relievers in 19 to 25 year olds. Opioids are the number one cause of death associated with drug overdoses. The drug epidemic in this state knows no socioeconomic or geographic boundaries and continues to affect West Virginians from all walks of life.”
Just because West Virginia is a failed state doesn’t mean that the rest of America should suffer because of West Virginia’s failures.
UPDATE: NBC News reports, “‘Betrayed’: House progressives erupt over Manchin Build Back Better opposition”, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/betrayed-house-progressives-erupt-over-manchin-build-back-better-opposition-n1286287
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., [who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued a statement:]
“Today, Senator Manchin has betrayed his commitment not only to the President and Democrats in Congress but most importantly, to the American people,” Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement. “He routinely touts that he is a man of his word, but he can no longer say that. West Virginians, and the country, see clearly who he is.”
Jayapal noted last week that Biden had promised that “he could deliver the 50 senators needed” to make the House-passed version of the legislation into law.
[B]efore Congress passed the bipartisan infrastructure law last month, congressional progressives had pushed for the infrastructure package to move in tandem with the spending plan over concerns that passing infrastructure first would weaken their leverage in shaping and advancing the Build Back Better bill.
They initially withheld their support in an effort to force an agreement on the larger bill. But after several missed deadlines and many hours of wrangling between Democrats on both ends, all but six House progressives voted in the end to pass the infrastructure bill.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Sunday called out Democratic leaders for moving the infrastructure bill before Build Back Better. She also urged the Senate to reconvene immediately to bring the legislation to a vote.
“When a handful of us in the House warned this would happen if Dem leaders gave Manchin everything he wanted 1st by moving BIF before BBB instead of passing together, many ridiculed our position,” Ocasio-Cortez said on a series of tweets. “Maybe they’ll believe us next time. Or maybe people will just keep calling us naïve.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, said: “This is so much bigger than Manchin.”
“When democracies are no longer able to address their constituents’ needs and demands, authoritarians seize power. I’ve seen it time and time again,” Omar tweeted. “And ours was already on life support.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said she has a “lack and deficit of trust” in regard to Manchin on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
[A] series of other House progressives joined them in condemning Manchin, including Rep. Barbara Lee, D- Calif., who said, “This is exactly why my progressive colleagues and I fought so hard to keep the Build Back Better and Bipartisan Infrastructure bills together, because we knew that Senator Manchin may choose to side with Republicans and corporate lobbyists over American families.”
Axios reports (speculates) on “Manchin’s next move”, https://www.axios.com/manchins-reset-339d6454-5bdf-4f23-a4b6-48fd8545ed5f.html
If Sen. Joe Manchin bolts the Democratic Party, he’d be more likely to switch to independent — and caucus with the Democrats — than become a Republican, people close to him tell Axios. [Strip him of his Committee chairmanship now.]
Manchin’s surprise body blow to President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda set off new speculation across the Democratic Party — including inside the White House — that he may leave the party next year.
Manchin has consistently denied any interest in leaving the party, most recently after Mother Jones reported in October that Manchin had told associates that he had an exit plan. “I can’t control rumors, and it’s bull**** … capital B,” Manchin told reporters.
A formal defection by Manchin could make passing parts of Biden’s $1.75 trillion plan all the more difficult for Democrats.
The big picture: Progressives were worried all year that they would whittle down their spending ambitions to bring Manchin aboard, only to have him pull the rug out once the negotiations got real.
Progressives told Axios’ Alexi McCammond they want Biden to fight back against Manchin aggressively — an instinct reflected in White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s statement.
Some want the president and progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders to travel to West Virginia to meet directly with Manchin’s constituents and champion the benefits of lower prescription drug costs, universal pre-K and other child and health benefits the legislation could have in the state.
“I would take this as a call to arms,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a Sanders aligned group. “This is Manchin saying, ‘I’m going to play hardball until the very end.'”
Anger at Manchin coursed throughout the party Sunday and some Democrats with races next year pivoted from attacking GOP rivals to going after Manchin.
Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), seeking to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio, told supporters in an email that there’s an urgency to expand the party’s majority because “we can’t let any one senator stand in the way of progress like the Build Back Better Act… will you support my campaign to become the 50th vote Democrats need in the Senate … ?”
Between the lines: Many Democrats told Axios on Sunday that they don’t believe Build Back Better is truly dead and that it’s a matter of figuring out what can actually pass in 2022.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) tweeted he would “do my part to help bring everyone back to the table.” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) said in a statement it is “unacceptable” for Manchin to abandon “productive” talks.
Be smart: No one really knows if Manchin can be convinced to support even a pared-down version of Build Back Better, not even the White House.
Yes, an old white guy from a very white state of hillbillies who voted for Trump +40 would leave the Democratic Party for the anti-democracy, pro-Covid death cult, white Christian nationalist Sedition Party that attempted a coup d’etat to overthrow American democracy in January and is actively engaged in an ongoing insurrection against democracy. The megalomaniac Manchin is only loyal to his his own self-interests, not his country or the Constitution. History will condemn this traitor for his failure of character and judgment at a critical inflection point in America history.