It’s nice to see that not every Democrat bows down to the will of strong-armed liberals like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Some will stand up for what they believe in. They won’t bow to peer pressure.
Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, is yet again at odds with his party. He’s flexing his power to prove that the Democratic liberals don’t get whatever they want just because they believe they have the majority.
Joe Biden is currently trying to force a $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill through the Senate. The only problem is that most of it has nothing to do with infrastructure.
That’s a lot of money – especially when a COVID relief bill worth trillions was passed less than a month ago.
It’s hard to say that it’s to help the infrastructure of America when most of it consists of Democratic agenda items.
Joe Manchin deserves a round of applause from the GOP for being willing to stand up and point out the flaws. Perhaps if his party hears the issues from another Democrat, they’ll be more willing to listen.
There are countless issues, and Manchin won’t approve the bill until changes are made.
He opposes the corporate tax hike as it goes from 21% to 28%. A 7% hike is a dramatic one, and Manchin fears that it will have a negative impact on American competitiveness.
Oh, and Manchin says that he’s not the only one to have an issue. It appears that the liberals didn’t think that they’d have any opposition from within their party. If they really plan on pushing this through, they’ll have to make some changes.
Even if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer decides to use budget reconciliation to bypass the 60-vote threshold, he’ll still need Manchin along with 51 other votes. With Manchin saying that it won’t happen, Biden might have to take the infrastructure bill back to the drawing board.
Of course, Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, wants to throw a temper tantrum when asked about Manchin’s comments. Her response was that there were others who believed the bill was too small.
Yes, we know that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks that money grows on trees. As for the other liberals, they have a reputation for being fiscally irresponsible – and Psaki’s comments only highlight that.
Psaki also dismisses much of it to say that the issue is only that there’s a considerable hike in the corporate tax rate. She wants to pretend as that is why Manchin and others won’t sign. It’s not just about how to pay for the bill. It’s also about what the bill contains.
There’s also money going to the National Science Foundation. There’s money that goes to domestic manufacturing. Much of it Is focused on ways to develop communities that affect Black and Hispanic communities. Even more goes to in-home care for those who are “underpaid and undervalued” workers.
Biden and the rest of Congress may have to come to the realization that this project is dead in the water. Infrastructure tends to pay for itself. Bridges and roads get built across the U.S. every year without federal money. This is all a way for Biden to create a legacy – and no one is buying into it.
Manchin will stand in the way, and he’ll speak up for the quieter moderates who also don’t want to see the bill passed. Unless the bill can drop the corporate tax number, there’s no way that it will see the light of day.
Perhaps if all of the bills focused on what they said they are for, more would get passed. The problem is that they want to consolidate everything into one. They try to tuck their liberal crap into hundreds of pages in hopes that no one will notice.
Nice try, liberals. It looks like Manchin has the morals that most of the Democrats seem to be in short supply of these days.