Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called out Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in an op-ed published in West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette Mail on Friday afternoon over his opposition to passing Democrat President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion social spending bill.
The nearly 1,000-word op-ed championed the social causes in the bill, promising to take on the “greed” of others and making sure that everyone pays “their fair share of taxes.”
Sanders has tried to argue that it is wrong that Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are opposing Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, writing, “2 senators cannot be allowed to defeat what 48 senators and 210 House members want.” However, Republicans control 50 seats in the Senate and Democrats only control 48 seats — although the other two seats, which are held by Independents, typically vote with Democrats.
Manchin quickly responded to Sanders’ op-ed with a statement that he posted to social media, writing that “no op-ed from a self-declared Independent socialist is going” to change his mind.
“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,” Manchin wrote. “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 continued. “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.”