Joe Manchin points blame at White House for soaring inflation
'Special Report' panel reacts to President Biden blaming inflation on Putin.
President Joe Biden and the White House are reportedly "steaming mad" at Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., after the senator said he wouldn't consider the administration's climate and tax provisions in a sweeping Democratic bill.
"The president has told confidants that while he understands Manchin represents a deep-red state, he can’t fathom why he keeps torpedoing the party’s best-laid plans," Politico reported on Tuesday.
A Democratic operative told the outlet that Manchin is "ridiculous" and said he plays games and is a "bad actor."
Politico reported that the White House was avoiding making their anger toward the senator known.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the grounds of Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, Jan. 11, 2022. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
"It’s a restraint rooted less out of a desire to play nice than the recognition of political reality: The last time they took a whack at Manchin, it backfired spectacularly, causing a months-long break in negotiations around a pared down plan," Politico reporters Adam Cancryn and Jonathan Lemire wrote.
Manchin derailed the passage of Biden's Build Back Better bill in 2021 after months of negotiations. He said in December that he did everything he could to come to a compromise but that he could not vote for the bill.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told the outlet that Biden and White House aides have been in touch with the West Virginia senator but that they "do not detail private conversations."
"And we have been clear that the President and Senator Manchin are longtime friends who share important values about standing up for middle class families," he said.
Sen. Joe Manchin questions Secretary Xavier Becerra during a Senate hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services' budget in Washington, May 4, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The Politico report notes that no matter how the White House feels about Manchin, they're going to need his vote.
The president said he supported Manchin's request for provisions that lower prescription drug costs and asked that they pass the legislation before the congressional August recess.
The White House is hoping to pass some form of the reconciliation bill ahead of the midterms and frame it as a "signature victory," according to Politico.
Sens. Joe Manchin and Tim Scott, R-S.C., in the Senate subway at the U.S. Capitol, Dec. 15, 2021. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
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Manchin denied that he opposed the tax hikes and climate provisions of the Democratic spending bill on Friday, saying that he would wait until August to decide. He argued that the reports of his opposition were overblown.
"I said can we just wait until the inflation figures come out [for] July, until we know if the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates," Manchin said. "Then make the decision on what we can do and how much we can do."
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