Manchin Regrets ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Vote – West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin now regrets having signed onto the “Inflation Reduction Act.” He signed the legislation last July, claiming it would tackle inflation by “aggressively producing more energy, get more supply, and bring prices down.”
The $793 billion legislative package was supposed to have addressed health care and climate, raise taxes on high earners and corporations, and reduce the federal debt. The bill succeeded the $3.9 trillion Build Back Better infrastructure and social support legislation and the $1.75 trillion version that he blocked in the fall of 2021.
Manchin now admits to having been naïve about the Biden administration’s objectives.
“Our national debt stands at nearly $31.5 trillion, or close to $95,000 for every man, woman and child, and represents 120% of our gross domestic product. Annual budgetary deficits have averaged $2.71 trillion since October 2019. Since Covid-19 began, we have added more than $8 trillion to the national debt,” Manchin wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal. “Despite explicit direction from Congress to pay down our debt in the Inflation Reduction Act, the administration seems more determined than ever to pervert that law and abuse existing authorities to increase spending.”
Manchin claims that President Joe Biden agreed the law was supposed to have paid down the national debt and generate $738 billion in new revenue and $238 billion to debt reduction.
A Win for China
China uses the runaway U.S. national debt as an excuse for its pursuit of de-dollarization and ending the greenback’s almost 80-year reign as the world’s reserve currency. The Chinese Communist Party propaganda mouthpiece, The Global Times, blamed the U.S. government’s inability to balance its books for the push to end the dollar’s status.
“Actually, Washington has only itself to blame … given that the US has been aggressively using deficit financing to combat the economic ravages of COVID-19 pandemic, the sustainability of its debt might be called into question too,” The Global Times said. “Since the US is stubbornly tethered to impeding and hurting other economies, its competitors have no obligations to embrace the outdated Bretton Woods system and help the US maintain the dollar hegemony.
“The dollar’s decades-long dominance has placed America in a strong position to dictate the terms of global trade and finance for the last 70 years. It’s high time for a change.”
Brazil and China agreed to conduct transactions in Chinese Yuan this week. Saudi Arabia also reportedly is considering doing likewise.
Manchin expressed anger with the administration’s failure to follow the law’s intent to expand fossil-fuel production and using regulatory measures to support “Green energy” instead.
“The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed. Ignoring the debt and deficit implications of these actions as the time nears to raise the debt ceiling isn’t only wrong, it’s policy and political malpractice,” Manchin wrote. “I believe the only person who can rein in this extremism is Mr. Biden.”
Manchin wants Biden to come to the table and negotiate with “fiscally minded Republicans and Democrats to negotiate common-sense reforms to out-of-control fiscal policy.”
“The second step is for Mr. Biden to instruct his administration to implement the Inflation Reduction Act as written and stop redefining its credits and other subsidies. That alone would save the American taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars in needless spending,” Manchin wrote.
Thus far, Biden has failed to deliver, and Manchin claims failure might “score political points with left-wing partisans, but generations of Americans will ultimately pay the price.”
China stands to benefit from inaction.
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John Rossomando was a senior analyst for Defense Policy and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award in 2008 for his reporting.
Jim
April 2, 2023 at 1:24 pm
So Joe is back to the old “The administration needs to reach out and negotiate with…the fiscally like minded across the aisle”..! You mean like the last time Joe? When you and the Biden admin got played?
It takes two to tango and the GOP strategy has been to vote against anything and everything put up by the Dems. Where was all of this angst over the deficit when it was being jacked up into the stratosphere by the biggest spender of them all?
This is all so disingenuous and for some reason the Dems dance to the GOP’s lead on this. Both parties are useless and the GOP has become a national security risk to boot.
A buddy and I give Western Civilization about two decades before it begins to collapse. We and the rest of the global leaders can’t pull out of this corkscrewing nosedive we and rest of the West are in.
We’re so divided and dysfunctional domestically I don’t see anyone else capable of the kind of global detente at a level seen by our past efforts. Not China however bad they want to. Let the Saudis get their jets and tanks from China along with their currency.
I wouldn’t hold my breath if U were them. The Chinese economy is about to fall over sooner than ours or Europe. Although Biden is handling foreign policy better that Trumps experimental approach, it leaves lots to he desired. The D student in a class of F students.
Ben d'Mydogtags
April 2, 2023 at 7:42 pm
Lucy held the football and Manchin ran up to try to kick it.
Roger Bacon
April 3, 2023 at 2:46 pm
Can he be that naive? The left will ignore all laws they don’t like. They will invent ones they do and all the while they will work to destroy (“reimagine”) this country.
Bruce Roberts
April 13, 2023 at 10:34 am
Stop your whining! Like Regan, Bush II and Trump did not ignore the laws passed by Congress! In their signing statements, they each said they were signing the bill into law, but the executive branch would not enforce it as long as they were in office! And, you had Trump sign executive orders countermanding Congress’s intent left and right! The Trump Era doubled the national debt.
Congress has no right to blame the national debt on the President and his administration (may we soon have a woman president and her administration). It is Congress that passes the budget and its corresponding authorization bills! The President cannot do that! The US Constitution says so!
Congress continues to pass budgets that increase spending, yet does not provide the taxes and fees to pay for all of their spending! It is Congress’s fault we have to force the Treasury Department and the Fed to raise rates, print money, and borrow money to pay for the lack of revenue! But, for political reasons and the blame came, Congress says because it is the executive branch the is forced to borrow money to pay for Congress’s spending, it all of a sudden is the fault of the President!!!
As for the US Dollar losing ground as the world’s reserve fund, we got along just fine before WWII without our money being the reserve currency! And, China is only taking propaganda advantage of our situation! Being the second largest economy, they want to replace us in everything because they think they ARE the world! Just like Britain did in the past and we do now! But thinking it and actually being it are two different things!
America is not in decline. America is not about to default on it’s credit obligations as long as Congress does its job. And, the world did not fall apart when there were competing national interests between Britain and France for over 1000 year, or when Germany entered the fray forcing France to face new competition!
So, stop your whining and get out there and do a better job of competing! Pass taxes that will actually pay for what Congress spends. And, stop blaming the Executive and their administration for having to borrow money Congress spends but does not pay for in taxes!!!
RoyTom
April 23, 2023 at 10:33 am
Biden and his Soros handlers want to destroy America and remake it in their own image. Big problem is that too many voters in their “what’s in it for me” world don’t have the moral compass to understand this.