Samuel Case, FISM News
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Senator Joe Manchin continues to pose a threat to the Democrat’s $3.5 trillion social spending package, which party leaders hope to finalize by Wednesday. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, the West Virginia Democrat said he remains a “hard no” on the spending plan, citing the massive price tag, which ignores future spending needs, as his major issue with the bill.
“Shouldn’t we basically put a pause on, with all the unknowns that we have right now we’re facing?” Manchin asked Host Chuck Todd, listing the pandemic, inflation, and international threats as problems that may need to be addressed in the near future. “Don’t you think we ought to be prepared for that since we don’t have the emergency that we had with the American Rescue Plan, when the president first came in and we passed?”
When pressed if he supports the bill, Manchin said, “No. I cannot support $3.5 trillion, OK? No, OK?” The Senator said he doesn’t believe he’ll be the “lone vote” against the bill, but saying if that were the case would not vote for the bill if he couldn’t “go home and explain it.”
Watch:
Over the weekend Manchin also appeared on ABC’s This Week and CNN’s State of the Union, where he reiterated his stance against the bill, and further expressed concerns over future crises that will require spending.
.@DanaBashCNN presses Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on why he doesn't support the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package.
Sen. Chuck Schumer "will not have my vote on the 3.5," Manchin says. pic.twitter.com/LBfgafxkPT
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) September 12, 2021
When pressed about his concern regarding the $3.5 trillion budget resolution, Sen. Joe Manchin tells @GStephanopoulos that his colleagues in Congress aren’t talking enough about inflation.
“Why are we rushing it for this one week?” https://t.co/yTVPGj7xJg pic.twitter.com/fb7On6dsMs
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 13, 2021
Earlier this month, Manchin wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for the bill to be put on pause.
The nation faces an unprecedented array of challenges and will inevitably encounter additional crises in the future. Yet some in Congress have a strange belief there is an infinite supply of money to deal with any current or future crisis, and that spending trillions upon trillions will have no negative consequence for the future. I disagree.
Manchin’s unwavering opposition to the bill threatens to dash Senate Democrats’ hopes of passing the package by a simple majority vote via budget reconciliation. Though Manchin’s stance may not be popular with Washington Democrats, the American people tend to side with the West Virginia senator. A recent Axios poll found that 64% of Americans support Manchin’s call for a “strategic pause” on the bill, including among 48% of Democrats and 52% of Independents.