U.S. Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia must have felt vindicated this past week in the face of enormous pressure to support the Biden Budget package.
As a former governor, Manchin understands how finances and the economy actually work. He has reiterated on numerous occasions that now is not the time to increase government spending when significant inflation pressures are buffeting American consumers.
The Labor Department announced that consumer prices have gone up 6.8% over the last 12 months— the most since 1982. Inflation occurs when too much money is chasing not enough supply of goods or services. The combined spending of the two COVID relief packages and the recent Infrastructure bill is an astonishing $6.4 Trillion.
Manchin’s own staff calculated in today’s dollars that the spending for World War II and rebuilding Europe through the Marshall Plan cost $4.7 Trillion. The Democrats in charge of this national spending spree have gone way overboard, and we are now seeing the results. Manchin is quite right to rebuff the White House pressure to support another spending increase and instead pause on any new spending projects.
The liberal, socialist Democrats have tried to fool everyone into thinking their new spending package of $1.75 Trillion is paid for and won’t add to the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office, however, just announced that the real cost of the new spending binge, after eliminating the Democrat budget gimmicks, would cost well over $4.5 Trillion and increase our national debt by $3 Trillion.
For the good of the country, Democrats should listen and learn a thing or two from Joe Manchin instead of bombarding him with pressure to join their socialist march to bankrupt America.