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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.

(RepublicanWire.org) – This past week saw all new developments in the drama that has become of Joe Biden’s Presidency. While meeting with governors to discuss the COVID prospects for the future among other topics, President Biden found himself selling his script to the wrong audience. The governors asked him very directly about the idea of changing the channel.

For two years governors across the country have been all over the message surrounding COVID. They want to see the country getting healthy, and the economy reopened. So they asked him to get past the narrative and leave the pandemic behind them. To which the President said, “We’ve got a way to go on that.”

A way to go on that? We have been doing the science of not trusting the science for nearly two years. We have been trying new methodologies, new treatments, new preventatives, and everything you have pushed. The American people have been through so many masks and vaccine arguments it’s enough to choke a cow. The people, the governors, and small businesses are tired of the ever-changing narrative. It is long past time to change the channel, and yet Biden wants it left here.

People have been looking for reasons to declare the man mentally unfit. This alone should be enough proof that he needs a comprehensive and independent exam of his mental health. While the inquiry here is about the well-being of America and its citizens above all else, it would be naive to say that there isn’t a concern for the President as well.

His decades of public service cannot be ignored. He has been a fighter for what he believes in, and now that belief is switching on an inconsistent basis. Mentally he has become unstable, and much like any man he doesn’t want to be remembered as old, feeble, and incompetent. To allow him to remain in office would be an embarrassment to himself and America.

America’s governors see the problems he is creating and sending a message after this gathering. Giving him what sounded like a very generous D grade on his performance, they expressed grave disappointment in his withdrawal from Afghanistan, lack of communication, and inflation. Given his response to their request to drop COVID as a large concern, they have every right to be upset. His reliance on the pandemic to keep pushing his agenda while not communicating with leadership sends a bad message.

Showcasing that you are ready to hold the country in a strongarmed position until your demands are met for the Build Back Better bill to be passed, and to change the filibuster is a dangerous precedent to set. It should also be concerning that he could potentially use COVID concerns to force America back into lockdowns yet again. While Europe has attempted them to only discover that they destroyed their economy and society, Biden trumpeted them as the savior to the people.

President Biden also alarmed them with claims he made afterward about a seemingly unrelated topic. “It’s ambitious. But it’s completely doable. Just as we harnessed the size to develop cutting-edge, COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, we’ll bring a fierce sense of urgency to the fight against cancer.”

While it is noble to do this given how he lost his son Beau to cancer, this message is coming at a point in time where he cannot afford to reallocate resources to this fight when he is unwilling to admit COVID should now be seen as the flu, and the states can ease off the restrictions. We can also stop sending the at-home kits and masks out. President Biden is taking credit for vaccines developed under President Trump. He was presented with a roadmap for how to leave Afghanistan and failed to even look at it. He has been a failure at every turn, and people finally see it.