Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was put in the hot seat for his support of the Inflation Reduction Act after the latest consumer price index came in hotter than expected for the month of August.
Manchin was pressed over the sprawling spending bill during an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier on Tuesday, who questioned whether the name was a red herring as prices soar across the country.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS PUTTING FOOT DOWN WITH MANCHIN’S PERMITTING PROVISIONS DEAL
“For people at home, we are talking about the inside politics about how to get these deals done,” Baier said. “They look at what they are seeing at the table. Inflation is not slowing. This CPI report was bad today.”
Inflation notched down from July to 8.3% for the 12 months ending in August in the latest report, but that figure exceeded the 8.1% number that the market was expecting. Wall Street panicked Tuesday as traders were spooked by the inflation figure and the stock market endured one of its worst days since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
.@BretBaier: “Inflation is not slowing.”
Manchin: “I said a year and a half ago…I said inflation was real.”
Baier: “Isn’t it disingenuous to call this the Inflation Reduction Act?”
Manchin: “It’s the only thing we have ever done that has a chance to really fight inflation!” pic.twitter.com/u2w7P72L0t
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 13, 2022
Manchin acknowledged the inflation woes eating at the wallets of the public.
“Bret, I said a year and a half ago, and no one paid attention to me, I said inflation is real,” Manchin replied. “Inflation will cripple you. It’ll bring you to your knees. Areas of the country that have people who are struggling every day to make ends meet, you throw another 6, 8% on top of everything else, it’s almost impossible.”
“Isn’t it disingenuous to call this the Inflation Reduction Act if we are looking at a CPI that actually goes up?” Baier asked.
“It’s the only thing we have ever done that has a chance to really fight inflation,” Manchin said.
The Inflation Reduction Act encompasses a multitude of liberal initiatives such as new climate and energy spending, tax reform, prescription drug-pricing reform, and the expansion of the Affordable Care Act’s healthcare premium subsidies. It features over $400 billion of spending and is estimated to reduce the deficit by $300 billion over the next 10 years, according to Democrats.
Democrats had initially sought a much more comprehensive social spending bill with proposals ranging between roughly $2 trillion and $6 trillion for the “Build Back Better” agenda. But Manchin and colleague Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) tanked many of those proposals.
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He reached a surprise deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) this summer for a watered-down approach and supported the endeavor to rebrand it around inflation reduction. However, some economists have found the measure, which was signed into law last month, will have a minimal impact on curbing inflation.
Meanwhile, Schumer’s concession to Manchin to pass “comprehensive permitting reform” legislation in exchange for his backing of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was paramount to the signature legislation clearing the Senate, is facing fierce resistance from liberals in the House.
