Will Chuck Schumer shaft Joe Manchin with reconciliation bill?
In the article, Arama notes that "Mr. Manchin said he had won a commitment from his fellow Democrats that they would approve a separate measure to address the process of issuing permits for energy infrastructure, potentially including gas pipelines, in the weeks ahead. The bill would also require new lease sales for oil drilling on federal lands and waters, including in the Gulf of Mexico, which environmental groups oppose."
Then Arama wrote "But as Sen. Marco Rubio observed, this would only happen AFTER he signed on the dotted line for the 'mini Green New Deal.' He thinks that they will ultimately 'screw him over.'"
Sen. Manchin was on all 5 Sunday news shows. The common theme was that the bill a) doesn't raise taxes, b) isn't inflationary and c) will create energy independence. Sen. Manchin said that this was "a red, white and blue" bill that would help everyone. When Bret Baier pressed him on the Penn-Wharton study of the bill, Manchin said that he respected Penn-Wharton but that he just disagreed with them.
When confronted by Baier with a clip of Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, who also said that the bill was inflationary, Manchin repeated the line that this was just a difference of opinion. Baier also played a clip of Chris Wallace questioning Manchin about the American Rescue Plan about whether it was inflationary. In that interview, Manchin said it wasn't. Check out the Baier interview here:
The total of outright whoppers that Sen. Manchin told in that interview would even make Democrats blush, though I didn't see Manchin blush a single time. I watched a bunch of tap-dancing on the head of a pin from Manchin but I didn't see any blushing.One of those tap-dancing times came when Baier corrected Sen. Manchin for saying that permitting reform is in this bill. By Senate reconciliation rules, it can't be in this bill. Another whopper came when Manchin said that his bill didn't raise taxes, that it just closes some loopholes. The 15% minimum tax currently doesn't exist. If this bill passes, that tax will be new. That's the definition of raising taxes. That means that Sen. Manchin is the personification of dishonesty, too.
At this point, Sen. Manchin's political career is hanging by a thread. The worst news for Sen. Manchin is that Sen. Schumer, perhaps the most dishonest Democrat in DC, is holding the other end of that thread and he's holding a sharp scissors and he's wearing an impish grin.
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