Manchin a Firm No on Biden Spending Bill, Debt, Inflation

CLAY: Joe Manchin continues to say that he’s not gonna support the reconciliation plan, and here is cut 15. He’s continued to talk all day today. That’s a direct blow (chuckles), by the way, at Terry McAuliffe. Here’s what Manchin had to say.

MANCHIN: Throughout the last three months, I’ve been straightforward about my concerns that I will not support a reconciliation package that expands social programs and irresponsibly adds to our $29 trillion in national debt that no one seems to really care about or even talk about. Nor will I support a package that risks hurting American families suffering from historic inflation.

BUCK: He’s not gonna do it, Clay. At this point, the walk-back would be too humiliating and politically unpalatable for him, and I will say — and maybe this is entirely naive — obviously this is a lot be driven by the political realities that Manchin faces in West Virginia. But maybe he also believes this at some level. Maybe he is really worried about inflation getting really bad and hurting the people of not just West Virginia, but the U.S. It’s possible. I know it seems so naïve.

CLAY: It makes me wonder also if he hates Terry McAuliffe, ’cause he decided to come out and do this on the day before the election? There’s all this reporting, Buck, that McAuliffe has been calling Nancy Pelosi obsessively saying, “Hey, please pass these bills! I need some ammunition out on the trail. You guys are killing me.”