West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin derails Senate Democrats’ bill during election season over energy and climate concerns
(Relatively) Moderate Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has once again derailed Senate Democrats’ plans by refusing to vote for a bill before election season.
Manchin has been in negotiations with Schumer for months and had initially agreed to the stipulations within the bill but has seemingly had a change of heart.
From Fox News:
Manchin was explicit that he won’t support a bill before the midterms with any provisions on energy and climate or closing tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy and biggest corporations, despite his support for those specific things during months of negotiations.
Additionally, Manchin said he would not support a bill that does not include provisions to lower prescription drug costs and a 2-year extension to Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Democrats had intended to pass a massive and sweeping bill before the midterms in order to have something to brag about. However, Manchin’s lack of support may stymie that completely and lead to the more radical left Democrats being ousted.
“Political headlines are of no value to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas as inflation soars to 9.1%,” Manchin spokesperson Sam Runyon said in a statement. “Senator 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.”
Manchin believes that the energy crisis and inflation should be the Senate’s top priorities and that the current bill is insufficient to tackle those issues.
In order to pass the budget reconciliation, Democrats only need a majority of 51 rather than the 60 necessary to survive a filibuster.
Without Manchin’s vote, Democrats would likely only be able to muster 49 out of 51 necessary votes due to their nominal 50-50 split in the Senate (Kamala Harris would normally serve as a tiebreaker.)
Manchin dashes the hopes of many Democrats who planned to bank their midterm campaigns off of this bill.
