Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) represents an energy-producing state. But because he was tricked by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, he voted for the mislabeled Inflation Reduction Act, which negatively affects the coal industry, a major business in West Virginia The only state that produces more coal than West Virginia is Wyoming. His betrayal by Biden and Schumer has hurt Manchin’s popularity and the possibility of his reelection chances.
Manchin was the swing vote for the act (the final Senate vote was 51-50). His thanks for being the swing vote was his fellow Democrats spurning the energy provisions in the bill he was promised and the White House to undercut brazenly key energy provisions the Senator wrote into the bill.
Per the Washington Post:
Manchin, and everyone else, also believed he had won several major concessions for the fossil-fuel industry in the package, helping out his home state’s coal industry and natural-gas-run electricity plants.
Now, less than nine months after the Inflation Reduction Act’s passage, Manchin finds that the Biden administration has unilaterally overridden concessions made to gain his support. The senator is fuming.
A Forbes Magazine explanation of the energy provisions of the act included, “another loser may be the coal industry. Incentives are skewed strongly toward building out new renewable power capacity, which will likely further marginalize coal as an energy source.”
Manchin was the swing vote for the act (the final Senate vote was 51-50). His thanks for being the swing vote was his fellow Democrats spurning the energy provisions in the bill he was promised and the White House to undercut brazenly key energy provisions the Senator wrote into the bill.
There are some rumors that Manchin may reward the treachery of his party leaders by running for President on the No Labels Party Ticket.
“I’ve been part of No Labels since December of 2010. It’s the only game in town that wants to bring people together and get Democrats and Republicans working together,” he said.
Asked about talk that he could run nationwide on the No Labels ticket, Manchin said, “people are starving, starving to work together.”
He said voters are sick of “this constant, daily routine of everyone’s against everybody and everybody’s fighting and arguing.”
“Let’s be for the country and get something done,” he said.
If he runs, there is little chance of him winning, but he may peel off enough votes from fellow Democrat Joe Biden to deny him reelection.
Manchin voted against Biden’s pick to run the IRS and refused to support Gigi Sohn, Biden’s choice for a seat on the FCC; Ms. Sohn withdrew when she couldn’t get enough support from the Senate.
Manchin is furious:
In a March 29 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, an angry Manchin wrote, “they are ignoring the law’s intent to support and expand fossil energy and are redefining ‘domestic energy’ to increase clean-energy spending to potentially deficit-breaking levels. The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed.”
Manchin will continue publicly opposing Biden and his policies through the end of this congressional session. Both Biden and Manchin are running for reelection. If Manchin doesn’t run for President to be a Biden spoiler, he will slam Biden as the bad guy in his reelection campaign. Biden didn’t realize that he won’t like Manchin when he’s angry.
