CHARLESTON – For more than year, Sen. Joe Manchin seemed to stand strong against top-down radical ideas from his colleagues, like the Green New Deal and more wasteful spending.
Folks in West Virginia of all political stripes were proud of Manchin (D-W.Va.) for standing up to tax-and-spend types in Washington who wanted to pass President Joe Biden’s economically disastrous Build Back Better legislation.
Then, Manchin blindsided the Mountain State, putting D.C. politics over the people of West Virginia by cutting a deal with the president and Senate Democrats to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. Some will say we should have known the senator’s newfound conservative streak was too good to be true.
Huffman
Boy, were they right.
Even the act’s name is misleading. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, tells us that the Inflation Reduction Act might or might not affect inflation — which is forcing many Americans to make the choice between paying the high cost of gas to drive to work or feeding their families.
Manchin sold the Inflation Reduction Act as a means to closes tax loopholes so that billion-dollar businesses have to “pay their fair share.” But it doesn’t close any loopholes or simplify the tax code at all. Instead, the reinstatement of a minimum corporate tax of 15% will fall right on the shoulders of thousands of working families in the form of lower pay, fewer jobs and fewer hours. This tax will reduce economic output, killing thousands of jobs.
But the Manchin-Biden legislation does manage to help some folks — namely energy companies, who stand to gain tens of billions of dollars in government handouts alongside hundreds of billions for “climate justice” initiatives. While Manchin’s plan won’t do anything to lower gas prices, secure the U.S. energy supply or simplify regulations for new infrastructure projects, it has pleased alarmists who wrongheadedly want President Joe Biden to follow through on his campaign promise to end fossil fuels.
The act also contains $80 billion to hire more IRS agents. Big businesses have armies of lawyers to fend off audits. The path of least resistance will lead these IRS agents to the doorsteps of Main Street businesses and average folks. That’s because the bill has no protections precluding the IRS from coming after the average person.
There are, frankly, too many detrimental policies in the Inflation Reduction Act to list exhaustively. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said it best: “This monstrous bill is terrible for West Virginia.”
Democrats were desperate to lock in a political “win” before they have to face the ire of voters in a mid-term election. In a nakedly political, partisan move, Manchin sold out his state to help his party save face for its failed policies and placate the radical wing of the Democrat base — which, by the way, says this bill doesn’t go far enough.
Doubling down on their reckless tax-and-spending spree and hiring more IRS agents certainly won’t have the desired political effect Democrats hope for. In fact, adopting the Manchin-Biden plan makes about as much sense as pouring gas on a fire to put it out. West Virginians aren’t buying Manchin’s smoke-and-mirror act. Manchin always says that, if he cannot explain a bill to West Virginians, then he can’t vote for it. Well, Senator, you certainly have a hell of a lot of explaining to do.
Huffman is state director of Americans for Prosperity-West Virginia. This opinion piece originally appeared in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.