In a 50-50 Senate, Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin has been limiting the reach of the Senate Democrats. It has caused some Democrat infighting and anger… especially from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
On Thursday, Manchin published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called “Why I Won’t Support Spending Another $3.5 Trillion.” Manchin criticized the Democrats’ spending resolution — or, at least, the current version of the resolution — for failing to address concerns about catastrophic inflation.
He wrote, “I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs.”
Ocasio-Cortez lashed out. She tweeted:
Manchin has weekly huddles w/ Exxon & is one of many senators who gives lobbyists their pen to write so-called ‘bipartisan’ fossil fuel bills.
It’s killing people. …
All day our community has been pulling bodies out of homes from the flood. Entire families. And we’re supposed to entertain lobbyist talking points about why we should abandon people & do nothing? No.
Fossil fuel corps & dark money is destroying our democracy, country, & planet.
All day our community has been pulling bodies out of homes from the flood. Entire families. And we’re supposed to entertain lobbyist talking points about why we should abandon people & do nothing? No.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 2, 2021
Manchin currently serves as chair of the Senate Energy Committee. Last month he helped to negotiate a smaller, bipartisan bill for $1.2 trillion of infrastructure spending. The bill passed in the Senate but has not reached the House floor yet.
Ocasio-Cortez seems to doubt whether Manchin’s bill is actually partisan, even though the bill passed 69-30 in a 50-50 Senate. She dismisses Manchin’s disagreement as part of a corporate plot, and she fails to acknowledge the possibility that Manchin may have sincere reservations about the bill, like inflation.
On Twitter, Rep. Rashida Tlaib jumped on the Manchin hate bandwagon. Like Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib describes herself as a “democratic socialist.”
She wrote, “Instead of writing op-eds, why don’t you look into the faces of my residents who have had their basements flooded with sewage multiple times and their power out for days, Senator Manchin.”
The socialists have fallen ill with Manchin Derangement Syndrome.
Instead of writing op-eds, why don't you look into the faces of my residents who have had their basements flooded with sewage multiple times and their power out for days, Senator Manchin. We deserve better. https://t.co/jSMlIB4SYa
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 2, 2021
The $3.5 bill is currently being drafted by Democrats in both the House and the Senate. For Senate approval, the bill will need 51 votes. The Senate currently has only 50 Democrats, but Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a vote in the event of a 50-50 tie.
The Senate Democrats chose Sept. 15 as the soft deadline for drafting the bill.
The Horn editorial team