Joe Manchin, Phony Budget Hawk

S enator Joe Manchin has attempted to stake out a position as a voice of reason, warning Democrats about the recklessness of spending a massive amount of money when the United States faces a dire fiscal situation. But whatever his words, his actions reveal his budget hawkishness to be phony.

On Wednesday, Manchin released a fire-breathing statement, much of which could have been mistaken for a National Review editorial.

The West Virginia senator wrote, “At some point, all of us, regardless of party must ask the simple question – how much is enough?” He declared, “spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs, when we can’t even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity.” He warned of the “inflation tax” that would come from spending “trillions more.” He ended with a clarion call: “America is a great nation but great nations throughout history have been weakened by careless spending and bad policies. Now, more than ever, we must work together to avoid these fatal mistakes so that we may fulfill our greatest responsibility as elected leaders and pass on a better America to the next generation.”

But here’s the reality. Manchin has already voted in favor of trillions of dollars in new spending in two bills this year alone. First, there was the $1.9 trillion spending bill passed in March. Though pitched as “COVID relief,” only about 5 percent of the bill directly focused on pandemic-related spending. It funneled hundreds of billions of dollars to state governments, many of which were facing surpluses, and pumped more money into the insurance industry through an Obamacare expansion. None of the spending was paid for. He then led the charge for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes $550 billion in new spending. The bill, according to the CBO, would add $256 billion to deficits. In other words, Manchin has already voted for nearly $2.5 trillion in spending, of which just about 12 percent was offset — with the remaining $2.2 trillion being added to the debt. Keep in mind, this is on top of the $4.1 trillion in deficit spending on COVID-19 bills during the last year of the Trump presidency, all of which Manchin voted for.

Manchin’s supposedly moderate position is that he’s willing to vote for another $1.5 trillion in spending. But this is misleading, because Democrats separated the Biden agenda into two different bills — an infrastructure bill, and a social-spending bill — even though the two are inextricably linked. We saw how linked the two bills were last night. After House speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to hold a separate vote on the infrastructure bill, progressives rebelled, forcing her to delay the vote and reiterate that the two were inseparable. So really, what Manchin is supporting is $550 billion plus $1.5 trillion, or over $2 trillion. So even if we take the absurdly named “COVID-relief” bill off the table, he is still violating his own position that “spending trillions more . . . is the definition of fiscal insanity.” And keep in mind that this is only his starting negotiating position. In the leaked document detailing his secret July agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, it says, “Senator Manchin does not guarantee that he will vote for the final reconciliation legislation if it exceeds the conditions outlined in this agreement.” Saying his vote is not guaranteed is a far cry from saying that $1.5 trillion is a red line, and that he would not vote for any bill that is a penny higher than that. Even though he claims to support raising taxes enough to offset the cost of the new spending, if he agrees to use trillions of dollars in revenue to finance new spending, that money will no longer be available to help meet the existing obligations, which he acknowledges we can’t even pay for.

To sum up, in the past year and a half, Manchin has already voted in favor of $6.5 trillion worth of spending, and he has indicated a willingness to vote for at least another $1.5 trillion, which would bring the total to $8 trillion. And he is trying to portray himself as the voice of fiscal sanity, because he is not willing to go from $8 trillion to $10 trillion.

Call Manchin whatever you want, but responsible budget hawk, he is not.