Biden is playing ‘Russian roulette’ with US’s $31 TRILLION in debt, Manchin claims

Senator Joe Manchin has not shied away from his war of words with his party leader, threatening Monday night to try to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and beating President Biden for not negotiating the debt ceiling.

The West Virginia Democrat told Fox News’ Sean Hannity of Biden’s implementation of the landmark legislation, “They broke their word to the American public.”

He continued: ‘This was about energy security and we haven’t heard a word about energy security from their mouth since the approval. It’s all about the environment.’

“If the government doesn’t do what it has promised to do, and continues to liberalize what we should be investing in for the next 10 years, I will do everything I can to prevent that from happening. And if they don’t change, I would vote to withdraw my own bill.’

Manchin would have no chance of voting to withdraw his own bill until at least 2025, when Republicans have a chance to take back the Senate.

Manchin has not yet said he would run for re-election — and he was coy about whether he would even run for president. Biden announced his re-election campaign on Tuesday morning.

Manchin urges Biden to sit down with Speaker McCarthy on debt ceiling

The senator also sided with the Republicans on the debt ceiling stalemate, urging Biden to sit down with Speaker Kevin McCarthy to discuss spending cuts in exchange for a debt ceiling raise.

‘He [President Biden] can’t play Russian roulette with the debt and the debt ceiling. That would be disastrous for our economy and for the American people,” said Manchin.

“You have to go into a room and work out the differences for the sake of our country.”

Manchin, 75, faces a tough reelection in a state that Donald Trump won by nearly 40 points in 2020. West Virginia’s popular Republican governor is expected to run for the seat, and GOP Rep. Alex Mooney has already jumped into the race .

Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer negotiated behind closed doors last summer over Biden’s signature on the inflation cut.

Republicans were dazzled when Manchin came out and said he would support the $740 billion bill — many had voted in favor of the bipartisan infrastructure bill because they thought talks about a larger spending package were dead.

The IRA raised $370 billion for a clean energy transition, enabled Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for some prescription drugs, and included $100 billion in shortfall reduction measures — largely through $80 billion in new funding for the IRS.

Manchin has been attacking the Biden administration for months, criticizing their implementation of electric vehicle tax credits and energy policies in general.

Last week, Manchin Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm on ‘liberalizing’ the bill’s provisions to boost electric vehicle sales.

Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told Granholm last week that Biden’s loose interpretation of the IRA could “break the budget” and go well beyond the bill’s spending forecast.

The IRA allowed a $7,500 credit toward the purchase of new electric vehicles, but Manchin had lobbied for provisions requiring much of the vehicles’ supply chains to be located in the US. But Manchin has said the rules aren’t strict enough and won’t prevent manufacturers from sourcing battery parts from China or Russia until 2025.

Last week, Manchin said Biden showed a “lack of leadership” by not negotiating with McCarthy.

Our elected leaders must stop the political games, work together and negotiate a compromise. Instead, it has been more than 78 days since President Biden last met Speaker McCarthy. This indicates a lack of leadership and that needs to change,” he said.