On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that the “most important” part of the Inflation Reduction Act is increasing energy production, but he will need Republicans to back the permitting reform he was promised in order to get his vote for the bill.
Host Bret Baier asked, “It was interesting optics today. You had the information from August inflation, 8.3%, higher than expected. If you tick down energy inflation, food inflation, all of the numbers from the CPI today, not good, and the markets took a dive some 1,200 points. And yet, there was a celebration on the South Lawn. What do you think about that?”
Manchin responded, “Well, the Inflation Reduction Act is something my staff and I worked extremely hard on to make sure it was balanced. The most important thing we want to do is what our Republicans, my friends, and we’ve always talked about, produce more energy. This bill will produce more energy. We’ll drill more oil. We’ll produce more oil. We’ll produce more natural gas.”
Baier then cut in to state, “But it’s not reducing inflation.”
Manchin said, “Well, if you put more product in the market, it makes sense that, basically, the more product you have in the market, the more reduction it should be. … On top of that, we have the Medicare reduction as far as putting that and being able to negotiate. That’s — in my state, 300,000 people on Medicare are going to see a reduction of their drug prices, also capped $35 on their insulin.”
Baier then cut in to ask Manchin if he regrets supporting the bill. Manchin responded that he doesn’t.
After the discussion turned to the permitting reform that was needed to get Manchin’s vote for the bill, Manchin argued, “you cannot get the energy of the future, you cannot get the transmission lines, unless you get permitting reform.”
Baier then stated, “But you cannot get the votes, if you don’t have the Democrats signing on.”
Manchin responded, “Hopefully, my Republican friends –.”
Baier cut in to ask, “So, you’re calling on Republicans to make this deal come across the finish line?”
Manchin answered, “Well, the Republicans, basically — can you imagine if 40 of them basically signed on to another permitting bill?”
Baier then stated, “But when you signed onto the deal that you created, you weren’t counting on Republicans to do that, you were counting on Democrats to do that.”
Manchin said, “I knew we couldn’t do within reconciliation at that time with Republicans because we had a 15% minimum on taxes to the highest corporations with a billion dollars or more of book revenue for three years.”
Baier followed up, “So, going into this, when you did this big, buying into this whole negotiation, you were thinking, well, I’m going to get this through with Republicans?”
Manchin answered, “Well, here, let me just say, first of all, you said, ‘this big’. The Democratic Party went from 6 trillion to 3.5 trillion, all over the board in the trillions. That was never going to happen. When Build Back Better, when I, basically, could not go with Build Back Better and I told them, there’s not going to be this type of legislation, I can’t sign on, I’m sorry, and that went on. I got beat up for over a year on this, Bret. And then it came April, and I saw what’s happening with energy, the war in Ukraine, the things that [are] going on around the world and us asking other people to do what we’re not doing for ourselves. And that’s when I said, we need to do an energy bill. And to Schumer’s — to his credit, he says, you’re chairman of the Energy Committee. You have a staff. Why don’t you start writing it? I said, you probably won’t like it, because it’s going to be very balanced.”
Baier then asked, “What if Schumer or Pelosi can’t find the votes to pass the continuing resolution with this plan in it? What happens? Are you willing to shut down the government if it doesn’t happen?”
Manchin answered, “I won’t be shutting it down because I’m voting for it. Now, the people that vote against it, now, you asked me, my Republican friends, I really, truly, in my heart of hearts, believe that I have enough great, common-sense Republicans that [say] listen, the IRA is behind us. That bill is over. It’s already been signed.”
Later, Baier asked, “Are Democrats going to pass this?”
Manchin answered, “I hope Democrats and Republicans will come to their senses, Bret.”
After Baier stated, “But you’re going to need Republicans, right?” Manchin said, “We do need [Republicans].”
Manchin added that they will need Republican votes “in the House, too.” And urged them to put politics and their personal feelings about him aside, and look at the fact that “you have a piece of legislation in front of you that’s been passed. Permitting is something we’ve always tried to do, all of us together, and I’ve been there with you. And why can’t we look at that? We’ve got a chance and it will never happen again, not in the next decade, maybe not in my lifetime they’ll ever get a chance to pass permitting. Because usually, Democrats have not supported permitting reform. This is one time they benefit by it, and they see it, but still, yet, there are some, reluctant, no matter any situation, to do anything that looks like it might help fossil.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.