Joe Manchin Checkmates Dems, Tells ‘Socialist’ Bernie Sanders To Pound Sand: “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”
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., fired back at U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., telling his fellow Dem Senator that he wasn’t going to take orders from a socialist. This came after Bernie wrote an op-ed in Joe’s hometown paper demanding Joe vote the way Bernie wants on Biden’s stalled agenda.
“Congress should proceed with caution on any additional spending and I will not vote for a reckless expansion of government programs,” Manchin said. “No op-ed from a self-declared Independent socialist is going to change that.”
Bernie wrote in Manchin’s hometown newspaper: “In America today, the very rich are becoming richer while millions of working families are struggling to put food on the table or pay their bills.
We now have the absurd situation in which two multi-billionaires own more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans; the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 92%; and the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time in the last 100 years.
The $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill, supported by President Biden and almost all Democrats in Congress, is an unprecedented effort to finally address the long-neglected crises facing working families and demand that the wealthiest people and largest corporations in the country start paying their fair share of taxes.
In fact, this legislation would be paid for by ending loopholes and raising taxes on the 1% and large profitable corporations.
This bill would take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and lower the cost of prescription drugs in America by having Medicare negotiate prices with drug companies, something the VA already does.
It is unacceptable that we continue to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs — sometimes 10 times more than the people in other countries.
Last year alone, while nearly one out of four Americans could not afford to fill the prescriptions their doctors wrote, six of the largest pharmaceutical companies made nearly $50 billion in profits and the 10 highest-paid executives in the industry made over $500 million in compensation.
In order to preserve this corrupt and greedy pricing system, the drug companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fight our legislation and have hired nearly 1,500 lobbyists, including former leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, to represent their interests. Enough is enough. We must lower prescription drug prices.
This bill would expand Medicare to cover dental care, hearing aids and eye glasses. Today, in the wealthiest nation on earth, many millions of seniors are unable to afford to go to a dentist, or buy the hearing aids and eye glasses they need.
In the richest country on earth older Americans should not have teeth rotting in their mouths. That is unacceptable.
The United States, and states like West Virginia and Vermont in particular, are seeing their populations age.
The result: more and more older Americans and people with disabilities need home health care.
They would much prefer to be around their loved ones at home rather than be forced into expensive nursing homes.
This bill greatly expands home health care and makes sure that these jobs are adequately paid.
The Build Back Better plan is not only vitally important for seniors, but it is enormously important for working families and their children.
As a result of the $300 direct payments to working class parents which began in the American Rescue Plan, we have cut childhood poverty in our country by half.
It would be unconscionable to see those payments end, which is exactly what will happen if we do not pass this bill,” he wrote.
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— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) October 15, 2021
The #AmericanRescuePlan delivers for #WV! Today @WVGovernor announced $236 MILLION for broadband expansion, mostly from funding I fought to include in the American Rescue Plan. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bridge the digital divide. MORE: https://t.co/zUFxqKrOAg
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) October 15, 2021