July 15, 2022

Good old Joe "Bare Minimum" Manchin! He pulled his negotiated support for the Democratic reconciliation bill at the last minute -- as he is wont to do. I'll remind you again that Joe is not completely worthless. He is a reliable vote for Biden's federal judges, and that ain't nothing. But damn, we have got to make him irrelevant after the midterms. Via the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, pulled the plug on Thursday on negotiations to salvage key pieces of President Biden’s agenda, informing his party’s leaders that he would not support funding for climate or energy programs or raising taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations.

"Why do you people keep asking me to stab myself in the eye?" the coal millionaire said, laughing. "You think yachts are cheap?"

The decision by Mr. Manchin, a conservative-leaning Democrat whose opposition has effectively stalled Mr. Biden’s economic package in the evenly divided Senate, dealt a devastating blow to his party’s efforts to enact a broad social safety net, climate and tax package.

In recent months, Democrats had slashed their ambitions for such a plan to win over Mr. Manchin, hoping that he would agree to support even a fraction of the sweeping initiative they once envisioned. His abrupt shift appeared to dash those aspirations.

In a meeting on Thursday with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, Mr. Manchin said he would support a package that would include a negotiated plan aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs and an extension of expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies set to lapse at the end of the year.

Well, those ACA subsidies ain't nothing, either, as anyone facing record premium hikes would tell you. But Joe only supports the bare minimum, ever. Thank you, West Virginia! Thank you, Kochworld!

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