The most sought-after man in Washington, D.C., these days is likely also one of the least popular, at least with Democrats. That would be Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who has decided to make himself king by being the primary obstacle to the Senate achieving anything. He might think he’s in charge because of the criticality of his single vote, but he’s actually playing Mitch McConnell’s patsy.
We saw it on infrastructure, when Senate Republicans ran to him to lock him up for months in negotiations, effectively shutting down all the momentum President Biden and Democrats had going into the process following the quick enactment of the American Rescue Plan. On voting rights, when there was a strong and unified push, they did it again. McConnell’s useful tool Susan Collins reached out with an alternative, which has been creeping along with no visible progress. Now it’s happening again with gun regulation.
The strategy on McConnell’s part seems clear—keep Manchin tied up in these never-ending “bipartisan” talks, and keep anything from actually happening. And keep him away from Chuck Schumer, or at least be there after those meetings to whisper poison in his ear about anything Schumer might be asking for, specifically using the budget reconciliation bill that is available to Democrats until the end of September to pass meaningful economic help to the American people.
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Schumer and Manchin have been having regular, private talks on using that budget bill to pass the parts of the Build Back Better plan he says he’s open to—something on climate, lowering prescription drug costs, and maybe some corporate tax increases. Manchin himself has said whatever he agrees to has to deal with inflation (he doesn’t explain how) and reduce the deficit.
Fellow Democrats are trying to get him focused on the one part of inflation that’s going to bite them all in the ass—in November if they don’t do something about it—ending expanded subsidies for Affordable Care Act policies. Come October, people are going to start getting their premium notices and finding out they can’t afford to keep their insurance.
House Democrats in swing districts are getting pretty damned anxious about that problem. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) led a group of 26 fellow Democrats in writing to Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make the reconciliation bill includes this fix. “These out-of-pocket cost increases are imminent: starting this autumn, when enrollees begin receiving notices of their premium increases for 2023 health plans, our constituents will find that the same high-quality coverage that they have been able to afford thanks to the American Rescue Plan will now be out of reach,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We cannot allow the progress we have made to be temporary,” they added. “We must make lower out-of-pocket costs and expanded coverage a permanent pillar of our health care system, and reconciliation is our only chance to get this done.”
Manchin hasn’t said no to that yet, but he’s also not said yes. He’s probably been too busy basking in the fact that he’s in such high demand for Republicans.
Elie Mystal is on Daily Kos' The Brief podcast
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