He goes again, to paraphrase an old Ronald Reagan quote. West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin has struck at the hearts of his Democrat colleagues yet again, this time pulling the plug on critical negotiations to save key parts of embattled President Joe Biden’s midterm election-year agenda.
According to The New York Times Manchin told Democrat Party leaders that he will not be supporting funding for energy or climate programs, or tax increases on corporations and wealthy Americans. As The Times noted, Manchin’s announcement “dealt a devastating blow to his party’s efforts to enact a broad social safety net, climate, and tax package.” Here’s more, via The Times:
In a meeting on Thursday with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, Mr. Manchin said he would support a package that would include a negotiated plan aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs and an extension of expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies set to lapse at the end of the year.
The shift capped off weeks of painstaking negotiations to cobble together a package that could win Mr. Manchin’s support. This was seven months after West Virginians abruptly quit negotiations and rejected an even larger plan.
Manchin had been negotiating with Schumer for many months. Schumer, a moderate West Virginia Democrat, previously supported both of these provisions in the domestic deal before the crisis.
Oder should we just say to the left?
Manchin spokeswoman Sam Runyon told The Times that “Senator Manchin has not walked away from the table,” taking a shot at dismal Democrat performance and leadership at the same time:
Millions of Americans are struggling to buy groceries and gasoline as the inflation rate reaches 9.1 per cent. Political headlines don’t matter to them.
Senator Manchin believes it’s time for leaders to put political agendas aside, re-evaluate and adjust to the economic realities the country faces to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire.
Needless to say, climate-change-crazed Democrats like leftist Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, were crestfallen by the news of Manchin’s latest blow to the Democrats’ radical left-wing agenda. Wyden could not contain himself and hyperbolically told The Times that he was unable to control his emotions.
I’m not going to sugarcoat my disappointment here, especially since nearly all issues in the climate and energy space had been resolved. This is our last chance to prevent the most catastrophic — and costly — effects of climate change.
We can’t come back in another decade and forestall hundreds of billions — if not trillions — in economic damage and undo the inevitable human toll.
Last chance; catastrophic; can’t come back and undo the trillions of dollars in economic damage and undo the inevitable human toll — blah blah blah blah blah blah. Al Gore, John Kerry and Leonard DiCaprio furiously nodded in agreement.
It gets “better.”
Leah Stokes is a Professor of Environmental Policy at University of California Santa Barbara. She was also an advisor to Congress Democrats regarding climate legislation. sobbedOn Thursday evening, she cried as she described how much work she and the other climate wackos put into these negotiations. This:
These are very high stakes. It’s just infuriating that he is condemning our own children.
And my favorite comes from Tiernan Sittenfeld, the senior vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, a nonprofit group, who described Manchin’s decision as “condemning future generations.”
There truly aren’t words, at least words that are suitable for printing in The New York Times, for how appalled and outraged we are.
“Almost” brings a tear to your eye, huh?
The list of Biden’s failures — many of them intentional — in energy and economic policy alone is long and the repercussions are damning. You can see the failures of President Biden in these RedState headlines.
WATCH: Sen. John Kennedy Piles Damning Facts on Biden’s ‘Deeply, Profoundly Stupid’ Energy Policy
Biden Leaves the Middle East to Ask Saudis For More Oil Production
Oil and Gas Associations Unite to Destroy Biden’s Narrative About Who’s Behind the Energy Crisis
Bottom line:
With Biden’s approval ratings continuing to swirl down the toilet, and the probability that Democrats will get their asses handed to them in the November midterms high, what could possibly happen next for the embattled Democrat Party?
Maybe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a radical left-leaning Rep. (D-N.Y.), will make a difference? It’s really ridiculous like calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to “support stripping the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over abortion.”
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