Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia fired back on Friday after far-left Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont called him out in an op-ed for opposing the Biden administration’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill.
In the piece, Sanders argued in favor of the plan to shell out trillions of dollars on various initiatives, and specifically put heat on Manchin for failing to lend his support.
Sanders wrote that “the political problem we face is that in a 50-50 Senate we need every Democratic senator to vote ‘yes.’ We now have only 48. Two Democratic senators remain in opposition, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.”
Manchin hit back in a statement, saying that a piece “from a self-declared Independent socialist,” will not change his position.
“This isn’t the first time an out-of-stater has tried to tell West Virginians what is best for them despite having no relationship to our state. Millions of jobs are open, supply chains are strained and unavoidable inflation taxes are draining workers’ hard-earned wages as the price of gasoline and groceries continues to climb. Senator Sanders’ answer is to throw more money on an already overheated economy while 52 other senators have grave concerns about this approach,” Manchin said.
“To be clear, again, Congress should proceed with caution on any additional spending and I will not vote for a reckless expansion of government programs. No op-ed from a self-declared Independent socialist is going to change that,” he concluded.
Sanders is an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has also refused to support the massive spending proposal.