While other Senate Democrats are taking a victory lap on the anniversary of President Joe Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is navigating complex terrain and taking hits from all sides.
Manchin stayed away from a gathering at the White House on Wednesday to promote the legislation, which provided for $369 billion in new spending to help accelerate renewable energy projects in the United States, increase electric vehicle manufacturing, and spur electric adoption.
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Instead, he issued a statement containing both praise and criticism for the bill he helped write.
The West Virginia Democrat has still not announced whether he will be running for reelection in 2024 in a ruby-red state President Joe Biden lost by 40 points last cycle and has openly flirted with a third-party run for president in 2024. Just last week, he said he was considering changing his party affiliation from Democrat to independent.
As Manchin attempts to demonstrate an independence from the White House, there’s no escaping the fact that he was a major architect of a major piece of Bidenomics. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) negotiated with Manchin for over a year, producing the legislation, which fell far short of the sweeping of Democrats’ initial effort to put together a climate and social program law known as the “Build Back Better Act.” Manchin eventually agreed to support the pared-down Inflation Reduction Act in exchange for a deal on energy permitting reform.
“When I negotiated this law last July with Sen. Joe Manchin, there was no guarantee we would succeed,” Schumer said during prepared remarks at the White House on Wednesday. “But Senate Democrats, despite the fact that we have a very diverse caucus with many viewpoints, got it done because we stuck together.”
Manchin also issued a statement on Wednesday hailing the bill as “one of the most historic pieces of legislation passed in decades,” noting its $35 cap on insulin for seniors and funding for a black lung disability trust among other provisions that will help him at home in West Virginia.
Manchin has spent the past few months at home touting the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act. Several companies have invested millions of dollars to build a new battery factory, new manufacturing plants, and a new industrial facility powered by renewable energy in the state.
“Just in West Virginia, the groundbreaking for Form Energy in Weirton and BHE Renewables in Jackson County will not only create hundreds of good-paying jobs, it will help spark a new era of American manufacturing and innovation,” he said.
However, Manchin made it clear that he is still unhappy with the way the energy provisions in the bill have been implemented by the Biden administration. In April, he threatened to repeal his own bill after the Treasury Department unveiled stricter electric vehicle tax rules, which he slammed as insufficient.
“Going forward, I will push back on those who seek to undermine this significant legislation for their respective political agenda, and that begins with my unrelenting fight against the Biden administration’s efforts to implement the [Inflation Reduction Act] as a radical climate agenda instead of implementing the IRA that was passed into law,” Manchin said.
Manchin’s praise of certain aspects of the bill and scrutiny of the administration’s approach to its clean energy provisions demonstrates a “delicate dance” he’ll likely be forced to continue if he intends to seek reelection next year.
“Joe Manchin is a Democrat from West Virginia. Everything’s going to be a pretty delicate dance,” said Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist. “Manchin has to show his constituents that he’s not going to stand around and let this become some sort of typical Democrat bill. He needs to show that this has distinct economic benefits for his constituents, who have sent him back to Washington several times.”
While Manchin’s stance on the legislation is a “compound argument,” some believe the West Virginia Democrat is the only senator able to successfully make it.
“It’s sort of a two-step argument he has to make, which is never easy in politics. You always want the simplest possible soundbite,” said John LaBombard, a former aide to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. “But that said, if anyone can make this argument credibly to West Virginia voters, it’s Sen. Manchin. The folks in West Virginia know him. I think they trust him.”
“This is potentially a convenient state of play for both the national Democratic Party and for Sen. Manchin insomuch as he gets to very authentically and repeatedly spotlight his disagreements with the Biden administration over implementation of the law, but he also gets to tell some provisions that are already very clearly helping his constituents,” LaBombard added.
Republicans continue to criticize the law, pointing to reports that the public is paying $700 a month more for goods than two years ago and highlighting that gas prices are also going up again.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized Manchin for “reembracing the law that West Virginia overwhelmingly detests.”
Defeating Manchin next year or otherwise replacing him with a Republican if he retires is crucial to McConnell becoming majority leader again.
The Democratic senator got hit with $100,000 of negative ads from One Nation, an outside GOP group, which is a nonprofit partner of the Senate Leadership Fund, aligned with McConnell.
“Sen. Manchin played a pivotal role in writing President Biden’s green energy scheme. Now, 100,000 West Virginia jobs are at risk,” the narrator in the video said.
“Sen. Manchin did a victory lap. He proudly took credit for passing the job-killing bill. President Biden even gave him the pen. Our West Virginia way of life is under attack. Tell Sen. Manchin to change course: Defend our coal jobs, not D.C. liberals’ climate policy,” the ad concludes.
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee is eyeing Manchin’s seat as a top pickup opportunity next year to flip the Senate from Democratic to GOP control, attempting to frame his position as “attempts to rewrite history.”
“Joe Manchin torched his political career when he wrote and voted for Biden’s green energy boondoggle,” said NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “Despite his desperate attempts to rewrite history, nothing is going to change that.”
