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Joe Manchin Demands Apology From Biden…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Sen. Joe Manchin Saturday demanded President Biden apologize for saying coal plants “all across America” will be shut down, in a scathing rebuke days before the midterm elections.

Manchin said: “President Biden’s comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs. 

“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure. 

“It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day. 

“Politicizing our nation’s energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American people.

“Let me be clear, this is something the President has never said to me. 

“Being cavalier about the loss of coal jobs for men and women in West Virginia and across the country who literally put their lives on the line to help build and power this country is offensive and disgusting. 

“The President owes these incredible workers an immediate and public apology and it is time he learn a lesson that his words matter and have consequences,” Manchin said.

Biden said:

“No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it. 

“Even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of the existence of the plant. 

“So it’s going to become a wind generation.

“And all they’re doing is it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on, we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power.”

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Even Dems Are Criticizing Biden…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is weighing in with criticism against President Joe Biden’s college debt relief plan, joining other centrists who have taken shots at the move.

‘I just think there’s a better way to do it. You have to earn it,’ he told reporters in the Capitol Tuesday, joining GOP criticism of the plan that wipes away college loans for people who meet income thresholds.

Manchin provided crucial support for Biden’s Inflation Adjustment Act, which the White House sold in part by pointing to an expected $300 billion in debt relief funded in part through a new surtax on stock buybacks.

Biden gave him the pen when he inked the deal into law, and had Manchin back at the White House last week for another event.

His last-minute deal with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer brought the final package together.

Manchin also called the debt forgiveness program, which Biden undertook using executive authority that could bring a legal challenge, ‘excessive,’ Business Insider reported.

Now he is adding criticism to that of other Democrats to Biden’s plan, which provides up to $10,000 in student loan debt relief to individuals earning up to $125,000, with up to $20,000 in relief for Pell Grant recipients.

Among the first to take a shot at the proposal was Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, who is in a tight race against Trump-backed Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio.

‘As someone who’s paying off my own family’s student loans, I know the costs of higher education are too high,’ Ryan said late last month. ‘And while there’s no doubt that a college education should be about opening opportunities, waiving debt for those already on a trajectory to financial security sends the wrong message to the millions of Ohioans without a degree working just as hard to make ends meet.’

‘While immediate relief to families is important, one-time debt cancellation does not solve the underlying problem,’ said Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, who is up for reelection late last month after Biden announced the plan.

The White House did not have a cost estimate when it first announced the move, citing uncertainty about how many borrowers would participate, then eventually came out with an estimate that it might cost $240 billion over a decade.

Some outside analysts quickly said it could cost up to $500 billion, while the Penn Wharton model predicts it could cost up to $1 trillion.

Voters were split 48-43 on Biden’s plan, according to a Politico / Morning Consult poll last week.

Biden announced the plan last month to address cumulative student loan debt that has ballooned to $1.6 trillion and impacts 45 million borrowers, according to the White House.

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Manchin Says, “It Makes No Sense At All”…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin doubled down on his call for President Joe Biden to ban all Russian crude oil imports on Tuesday.

“It makes no sense at all for the United States to be buying millions of barrels of Russian oil and other petroleum products while Russia attacks the free and sovereign nation of Ukraine,” the West Virginia senator tweeted on Tuesday. “That’s why I’m calling on (President Joe Biden) to immediately stop all imports from Russia.”

Russia provided more oil to the U.S. than any other country except Canada last year, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed. In total, the U.S. imported nearly 3 billion barrels of oil, or roughly 670,000 barrels per day, from Russia in 2021.

Manchin, who is the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee chairman, said the dependence on Russia for crude oil presents a threat to U.S. national security. He also echoed fossil fuel industry group in calling for greater domestic production of oil and gas. 

“The entire world is watching as Vladimir Putin uses energy as a weapon in an attempt to extort and coerce our European allies,” Manchin said in a statement Monday. “While Americans decry what is happening in Ukraine, the United States continues to allow the import of more than half a million barrels per day of crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia during this time of war.

“This makes no sense at all and represents a clear and present danger to our nation’s energy security,” he said. “If there was ever a time to be energy independent, it is now.”

However, the White House has stopped short of sanctioning Russia’s key oil and gas sector, which funds about 40% of the nation’s federal budget. The administration said such sanctions would harm European and American consumers.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would order a ban on Russian oil imports on Monday, Bloomberg reported. But Canada imports a tiny fraction of its oil needs from Russia.

“Sanctioning energy would affect Russia’s income stream — certainly that would be a reason to do it — but it would also have extreme consequences on the world energy markets, particularly for our Allies in Europe,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday.

When asked about Canada’s decision, Psaki said that “all options remain on the table.”

White House energy adviser Amos Hochstein said that banning oil imports from Russia would boost prices for Americans while making Russian state producers richer as well, in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday.

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Manchin Votes No, Defies Biden Again…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said in no uncertain terms that he would not support President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Robert Califf.

Manchin noted that he had opposed Califf’s nomination when former President Barack Obama first put him forward as the nominee in 2016, and he said that West Virginians had suffered during his brief tenure (February of 2016-January 20, 2017) in the role.

“Manchin to oppose nomination of Robert Califf to run FDA: My opposition is nothing new. In fact, it was exactly five years ago next week that I came to the Senate floor to urge my colleagues to oppose Dr. Califf’s nomination to serve under then President Obama in the same role,” Fox News Congressional reporter Chad Pergram tweeted.

“Manchin: In the five years since Dr. Califf was confirmed, more than 400,000 Americans, and 5,000 West Virginians have died from drug related overdose….Califf bears a great deal of responsibility for these deaths,” Pergram continued, reporting Manchin’s comments.

Manchin’s math appeared to be slightly off, as Califf’s confirmation actually took place six years ago in February of 2016.

“I cannot, for the life of me, understand why this administration is so committed to asking each of us in the Senate to reconfirm a person who had the opportunity to make a difference but show us who he really was. Do not expect a different outcome,” Manchin continued, according to Pergram’s report.

The West Virginia Senator’s conclusion was simple: “If he is given another opportunity to lead the FDA, that won’t happen. I will vote no on Dr. Califf’s nomination and I have never been more profoundly confident of a vote I’m going to cast than I am right now.”

Manchin has been pushing back on a number of President Joe Biden’s initiatives, effectively killing the Build Back Better bill just before Christmas when he promised to vote no because of the impact he believed it could have on inflation.

As The Daily Wire reported:

“I’ve done everything humanly possible. And you know my concerns I had, and I still have these concerns,” Manchin continued, noting that the people in his home state of West Virginia were already feeling the impact of inflation and he was concerned that it would not be a transitory thing. “It’s real, it’s harming every West Virginian, it’s making it almost — difficult for them to continue to go to their jobs. The cost of gasoline, the cost of groceries, the cost of utility bills, all of these things are hitting in every aspect of their life and you start looking at — then you have the debt that we are carrying at $29 trillion, you have also the geopolitical unrest that we have. You have the COVID, the COVID variant, and that is wreaking havoc again, people are concerned.”

“With my family, I know everyone is concerned, so when you have these things coming at you the way they are right now, I’ve always said this, Bret: if I can’t go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it, and I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible, I can’t get there,” Manchin added.

Manchin also joined colleague Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) in promising to vote no on any move to change the Senate rules in a way that would weaken or kill the filibuster.

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Manchin Throws Wrench…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Wednesday said he will not rubber-stamp President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer.

“I take my Constitutional responsibility to advise and consent on a nominee to the Supreme Court very seriously,” Manchin said. “I look forward to meeting with and evaluating the qualifications of President Biden’s nominee to fill this Supreme Court vacancy.”

Manchin’s statement follows White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s confirmation Biden intends to nominate a black woman to the court.

In 2020, Biden foreshadowed he would do so. “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a black woman on the Supreme Court, to make sure we, in fact, get every representation,” he said.

The appointment of a black woman would potentially make it troublesome for establishment Senate Republicans to block Biden’s nominee in an election year. Democrats hold a 50/50 split tie-breaking vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Biden’s nominee will need to appease all 50 Democrat Senators, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

Both Manchin and Sinema have proven a willingness to oppose Biden’s radical “Build Back Better” agenda. Manchin’s home state of West Virginia voted for Donald Trump in 2020 by nearly 40 points.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Wednesday announced he would confirm Biden’s nominee promptly but deliberately.

The Senate’s Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), will conduct Senate hearings in the coming weeks.

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Liberal Media’s Meltdown…

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Liberal media are reacting to Sen. Joe Manchin’s, D-W.Va., announcement that he’s a conclusive “no” on President Biden’s Build Back Better plan.

“I’ve always said this, Bret: if I can’t go home and explain to the people of West Virginia I can’t vote for it,” Manchin told “Fox News Sunday” guest host Bret Baier Sunday. “And I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there.”

“You’re done? This is a no?” Baier replied.https://c5ac73496404064bf23143c3042d5a88.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

“This is a no on this piece of legislation,” Manchin said. “I have tried everything I know to do.”

The senator said that the rise in inflation, the national debt and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic helped him come to his decision on the massive social spending bill.

“My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face,” Manchin said in a statement following his announcement. “I cannot take that risk.”

A couple of Manchin’s colleagues took turns ripping him on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., started by accusing Manchin of lacking the courage to stand up to pharmaceutical companies, and an outraged Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said the West Virginia senator was obstructing the president’s agenda. 

Several media pundits failed to hide their disappointment as well.  

“A lot to process on the Manchin news but, from a substantive standpoint, it’s just objectively devastating for the planet,” Politico’s Sam Stein tweeted. “The last best chance at climate change legislation is gone.”

Social media users noted Stein was acting more like a partisan than a journalist.

It was a similar story on Sunday morning news shows, as viewers who tuned in to ABC’s “This Week” heard audible sighs from the guests at the roundtable after Jonathan Karl announced the breaking news. Their reaction again raised questions about the press’ supposed objectivity. 

But Sunday’s media reaction was no surprise to analysts who have been following the treatment of Manchin in the lead-up to his decision on Build Back Better. CNN analyst and former Democratic staffer Kirsten Powers told Manchin it would “be better off” if he left the Democratic Party last week. And ABC News raised eyebrows Friday after sharing an AP story republished on its site, tweeting, “A single senator is about to seriously set back an entire presidential agenda.”

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