Joe Manchin Opposes Biden’s Infrastructure Plan, Says ‘6 or 7 Other Democrats’ Feel the Same

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) came out in opposition of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, citing the bill’s raising of the corporate tax rate to 28 percent.

Manchin, who holds a crucial swing vote in the Democrats’ slim Senate majority, revealed his position during a Monday interview with Metro News host Hoppy Kercheval.

“As the bill exists today, it needs to be changed,” Manchin stated.

“It’s more than just me, Hoppy,” the lawmaker added. “There’s six or seven other Democrats who feel very strongly about this. We have to be competitive, and we’re not going to throw caution to the wind.”

Manchin said he could vote in favor of hiking the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, not 28 percent, arguing raising the rate any further would harm the U.S. economy.

“If I don’t vote to get on it, it’s not going anywhere,” Manchin later warned in the interview.

As Breitbart News previously reported, Biden infrastructure plan is chalked full of non-related spending with only roughly 25 percent of the proposal would fund basic infrastructure:

Around $639 billion would be spent on traditional infrastructure, including $115 billion to revamp highways and roads, while just $25 billion would go toward fixing up airports. The bill sets aside $85 billion to modernize existing transit systems and $111 billion to replace lead pipes and service lines. Another $100 billion would be spent on building high-speed broadband systems and $100 billion for electric transmission infrastructure. Climate change projects, including development for electric vehicles and charging stations, would also receive billions in funding. The plan would see another $400 billion in spending on health care and $213 billion on affordable housing, along with research training, and development programs.

However, despite the bill’s massive price tag, progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claim the cost should be much higher.

“We’re looking at ideals and what we think is the actual investment that can create tens of millions of good union jobs in this country that can shore up our health care, our infrastructure, our housing, and doing it in a way that draws down our carbon figures to help us get in line with IPCC standards we’re talking about realistically $10 trillion over ten years,”  Ocasio-Cortez said last week. “And I know that may be an eye-popping figure for some people, but we need to understand that we are in a devastating economic moment. Millions of people in the United States are unemployed. We have a truly crippled healthcare system and a planetary crisis on our hands. We’re the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. So we can do $10 trillion.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that Biden wanted Congress to act on his infrastructure plan by Memorial Day.

Buttigieg told ABC’s This Week: “We know that this is entering a legislative process where we’re going to be hearing from both sides of the aisle, and I think you’ll find the president’s got a very open mind. But time is of the essence. So we’ll look at these ideas on how to pay for it. We’ll look at ideas on where the investments ought to be, too. But the president is hoping for major progress from Congress before Memorial Day. And we can’t allow this thing to just keep dragging on because the need is there today.”