To say that Joe Manchin appears out of touch with the pressing needs of his constituents and Americans as a whole would be a grotesque understatement. The Build Back Better bill would be a godsend to millions of Americans who struggle to pay their monthly bills, find affordable child care and—not for nothing—worry about the effects of climate change on their children’s future.
In fact, West Virginia, which Manchin purports to represent, would arguably be one of the law’s greatest beneficiaries … if it ever passes. Which it won’t—at least not in its current, already massively compromised, version—because Manchin killed it and is now standing over the body pointing and laughing. Loads of people have told Revoltin’ Joe Pre-Paleo how much of a boon this bill would be for America’s workers, but he won’t listen. Among the loudest voices is the United Mine Workers of America International, which represents coal miners in West Virginia and elsewhere. Manchin’s response? Crickets, essentially. (In 20 years it may be tumbleweeds because the crickets will be dead.)
Of course, Manchin has been in West Virginia politics since I began my (still unfinished) Ph.D. dissertation on the effects of daily cannabis use on Donkey Kong scores, so it’s possible he’s listening more to his paymasters than his peeps at this point. Call me cynical. But one person who isn’t content to let BBB simply die on the shitty vine that is Joe Manchin is the indefatigable AOC.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on Tuesday took a swing at Sen. Joe Manchin after the West Virginia lawmaker doubled down on his opposition to the Build Back Better agenda. […]
"Seniors, kids, & people with disabilities in my community have been sleeping with bubble jackets on in 18 degree nights, despite paying rent, bc the NYCHA funding to fix their heating and capital needs is in BBB," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "Where should I direct them to wait out the cold? Manchin's yacht?"
Of course, being very fair and evenhanded, Insider then parsed the definition of “yacht.” According to yacht experts, Manchin’s seaside escape from the trials and tribulations that he doesn’t happen to personally ever experience may not actually be a yacht, per se. So let’s just call it a big, 65-foot boat boasting a big, 6-foot, 3-inch anchor that’s squarely hitched to America’s backside.
"What Build Back Better bill?" Manchin told Insider when asked about a tax break being included in a skinnier version of the plan. "There is no Build Back Better bill. I don't know what y'all are talking about."
Okay, Joe. That’s cute. We see you. Make no mistake about that.
Maybe, somewhere down the line, after Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema finish scuttling everything that could actually put our derailing democracy back on track, a few elements of BBB will be salvaged—and Manchin will no doubt brag about the needed relief he delivered to West Virginians.
Hopefully, he’ll be able to “explain” to them why the help came so late—and why it’s not nearly as robust as it could, and should, have been.
Of course, when he says he needs to be able to explain anything he votes on to his constituents, he doesn’t mean coal miners. He means coal mine owners. But that’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?
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