{"id":27662,"date":"2021-09-30T16:11:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T20:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=27662"},"modified":"2021-09-30T16:12:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T20:12:38","slug":"fiscal-insanity-senator-joe-manchin-comes-out-against-bidens-3-5-trillion-spending-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2021\/09\/30\/fiscal-insanity-senator-joe-manchin-comes-out-against-bidens-3-5-trillion-spending-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fiscal Insanity\u2019: Senator Joe Manchin Comes Out Against Biden&#8217;s $3.5 Trillion Spending Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"attachment wp-att-27663\" href=\"\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=27663\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-27663\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/manchin-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"802\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/manchin-1024x536.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/manchin-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/manchin-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/manchin-229x120.png 229w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/manchin.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Congress\u2019s efforts to push through a budget-busting <\/span><a class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/wsj-biden-plan-s-35-trillion-price-tag-is-actually-a-huge-underestimate\/\" data-toggle=\"popover\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$3.5+ trillion welfare and climate change spending bill<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are coming to a fever pitch. But with the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, 50-50, the party-line spending legislation could be doomed\u2014because one prominent Democratic senator just came out swinging against the effort.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI can\u2019t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March,\u201d West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, said in a <\/span><a class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchin.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/manchin-statement-on-infrastructure-and-reconcilliation-negotiations\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> released Wednesday. \u201cAt some point, all of us, regardless of party, must ask the simple question \u2013 how much is enough?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat I have made clear to the President and Democratic leaders is that spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs, when we can\u2019t even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity,\u201d Manchin continued. \u201cSuggesting that spending trillions more will not have an impact on inflation ignores the everyday reality that America\u2019s families continue [to] pay an unavoidable inflation tax. Proposing a historic expansion of social programs while ignoring the fact we are not in a recession and that millions of jobs remain open will only feed a dysfunction that could weaken our economic recovery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 533px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=feeonline&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1443330806987034628&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Ffee.org%2Farticles%2Ffiscal-insanity-key-democratic-senator-comes-out-swinging-and-dooms-budget-busting-spending-proposal%2F&amp;sessionId=19ae0493171b429f01b6c89db2a5532f41082155&amp;siteScreenName=feeonline&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=fcb1942%3A1632982954711&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1443330806987034628\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be clear, Manchin is not exactly a principled free-marketeer or small government fiscal conservative. Indeed, he is actively promoting a <\/span><a class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/9-crazy-examples-of-waste-unrelated-pet-projects-snuck-into-massive-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill\/\" data-toggle=\"popover\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$1.2+ trillion spending bill ostensibly dedicated to transportation infrastructure<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and is open to the idea of more spending. The senator simply acknowledges the reality of trade-offs. (Unlike many in his party who bizarrely <\/span><a class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/biden-bizarrely-and-falsely-claims-his-35-trillion-spending-agenda-has-a-price-tag-of-zero\/\" data-toggle=\"popover\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">continue to falsely claim their multi-trillion-dollar proposal costs \u201czero dollars.\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, Manchin deserves credit for grappling with the reality that the government cannot create resources out of thin air. Whether through the sweeping proposed tax hikes, new federal debt, or money-printing that drives inflation, all the goodies handed out by the federal government must ultimately come from somewhere else.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manchin rightly argued that the current approach of spending trillions and ignoring any consequences is reckless and motivated by an extreme political ideology that ignores fiscal reality.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\">\n<div id=\"om-fqmeg7lcejd7fy5oro5r-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"om-lxkcubhhqwmdm0lkjkbp-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOverall, the amount we spend now must be balanced with what we need and can afford \u2013 not designed to reengineer the social and economic fabric of this nation or vengefully tax for the sake of wishful spending,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile I am hopeful that common ground can be found that would result in another historic investment in our nation, I cannot \u2013 and will not &#8211; support trillions in spending or an all or nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If only more politicians in Washington were willing to at least grapple with fiscal reality when crafting spending policies and less content to simply pass the buck onto future generations.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAmerica is a great nation but great nations throughout history have been weakened by careless spending and bad policies,\u201d Manchin concluded. \u201cNow, 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<h5><a class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/people\/brad-polumbo\/\"><br \/>\nBrad Polumbo<br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<p>Brad Polumbo (<a class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brad_polumbo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@Brad_Polumbo<\/a>) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and Policy Correspondent at the Foundation for Economic Education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/fiscal-insanity-key-democratic-senator-comes-out-swinging-and-dooms-budget-busting-spending-proposal\/\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress\u2019s efforts to push through a budget-busting $3.5+ trillion welfare and climate change spending bill are coming to a fever pitch. But with the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, 50-50, the party-line spending legislation could be doomed\u2014because one prominent Democratic senator just came out swinging against the effort.&nbsp; \u201cI can\u2019t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March,\u201d West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, said in a statement released Wednesday. \u201cAt some point, all of us, regardless of party, must ask the simple question \u2013 how much is enough?\u201d \u201cWhat I have made clear to the President and Democratic leaders is that spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs, when we can\u2019t even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity,\u201d Manchin continued. \u201cSuggesting that spending trillions more will not have an impact on inflation ignores the everyday reality that America\u2019s families continue [to] pay an unavoidable inflation tax. Proposing a historic expansion of social programs while ignoring the fact we are not in a recession and that millions of jobs remain open will only feed a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[361,551,3797,622],"class_list":["post-27662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-politics","tag-budget","tag-debt","tag-defecit","tag-economics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}