“Nero Incendiarius!” (“Nero, the arsonist”) Romans called their emperor after most of Rome burned to the ground in 64 AD. The rumor was that Nero wanted to burn down the city as inspiration for one of his poems — a myth started by Nero’s enemies. But most of Rome wanted Nero’s head on a spike.
You have to believe that Democrats are thinking the same thing about their Senate colleague, Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Manchin has single-handedly — literally — set afire the radical, frighteningly expensive agenda of the president and far-left Democrats in Congress. That agenda included ruinous tax increases, massive changes to America’s energy policy, and other items on the radical left’s wish list to transform America. “Build Back Better” was a blueprint for disaster.
It’s been Manchin who has insisted on some kind of fiscal sanity. It’s been Manchin insisting the president’s climate policy include an “all of the above” promotion involving coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power as well as solar and wind energy generation.
Manchin’s vote is crucial given that Republicans are universally opposed to Build Back Better and Biden needs all 50 Senate Democrats to support it if the party wants to use reconciliation to pass it. He derailed the bill last December. He derailed it again when Biden tried to revive it in March.
And now Manchin has reduced Biden’s gargantuan $2 trillion Build Back Better bill to a measure that would extend Obamacare subsidies for two years and reduce drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate with Big Pharma.
Sam Runyon, a spokesperson for Manchin, indicated the West Virginian has little concern for how his rejection might affect his party’s overall political prospects, should Democrats ultimately fail to accept the narrow terms he’s outlined.
“Political headlines are of no value to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas,” said Sam Runyon, a spokesperson for Manchin. “Sen. Manchin believes it’s time for leaders to put political agendas aside, reevaluate and adjust to the economic realities the country faces to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire.”
While radical Democrats prepare the tar and feathers, Manchin has quietly carried out his own personal anti-inflation war against his party. The West Virginian blew up the bill in December, citing inflation concerns. His argument hasn’t changed; Build Back Better is inflationary and raising taxes with the economy teetering on the edge of a recession is madness.
“All of our efforts should be: How do we reduce the gas prices, the high prices of energy, the high prices of food, all of these things: that’s every day living. And everyone’s talking about everything except though things,” Manchin said in an interview earlier this week. “Unless you can get your financial house in order, you’re not going to get inflation under control.”
Manchin’s Thursday rejection of Schumer’s offers, first reported by the Washington Post, sparked deep frustrations from progressives, particularly those who saw Democrats’ control of Congress and the White House as a long-sought opportunity to rein in carbon emissions.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to entice Manchin with a legislative package that would dedicate half the revenue from increased taxes to deficit reduction if Manchin would sign off on climate change provisions. But the inflation numbers from the last two months have convinced Manchin that passing massive spending bills would be irresponsible.
Democrats could give a flying fig about inflation. That’s a problem that can be fixed later. What they need now, they say, is a blockbuster bill to take to their constituencies as “proof” that they’re doing their jobs and deserve their cash and their votes.
What they’re going to get is a bill that will maintain Obamacare subsidies for another two years, and a dubious experiment allowing Medicare to bully Big Pharma into cutting drug prices.
The radicals may not realize it, but Manchin might just have saved the Democratic Party from itself.
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