Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) officially refused to confirm this past Sunday as to whether or not he will be backing President Joe Biden if he chooses to run for the White House for another term in 2024.
Manchin issued these statements as part of an interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper on a segment from “State of the Union.”
“President Biden says he plans to run for re-election in 2024. You have not yet committed to supporting him in 2024. Do you think President Biden deserves a second term?” questioned Tapper.
CNN's @jaketapper asks @Sen_JoeManchin whether he will support President Joe Biden for re-election in 2024. #CNNSOTU https://t.co/Ut9zsIOJuL
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 31, 2022
“Jake, I’m not getting involved in any election right now. 2022, 2024, I’m not speculating on it,” answered Manchin.
Manchin emphasized his overall goal of helping the people of West Virginia and the country.
“President Biden is my president right now, and I’m going to work with him and his administration to the best of my ability to help the people in my state of West Virginia and this country. And we have agreements,” he stated.
“We have respectful agreements where we respect each other, and we work through them. So, this is what people are upset about. Everything is about the next election,” he went on.
Manchin is part of a quickly growing group of Democrats who have chosen to refuse to give their answers concerning possible support for Biden if he plans to choose to make a run for office in 2024.
Back in June, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also chose to ignore and dodge any questions about supporting Biden’s re-election.
“I think if the president has a vision, then that’s something certainly we’re all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes,” She stated to Dana Bush about “State of the Union” on CNN previously.
This past Thursday, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) called for Biden to get out of the way and let someone else make an attempt at the Democratic nomination.
“I think the country would be well-served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats to step up,” stated Phillips.
Manchin went on to address the country’s issue with insanely high inflation rates and said that he is focusing on formulating an energy policy to assist Americans.
“This is about today’s inflation rates killing people. We have got to get the inflation rate down,” Manchin went on.
“We have got to have an energy policy that works for America. And we’re not going to raise taxes. But people should be paying their fair share, especially the largest corporations of America that have a valuation of $1 billion of value or greater. Can’t they pay at least 15% so we can move forward and be the leader of the world and the superpower we are?” he stated.
Despite this emphasis on not raising taxes from Manchin, an in-depth look into the bill he recently supported claims Americans at almost all levels will pay more if the legislation is passed.
.@Sen_JoeManchin tells @jaketapper that his bill will not raise taxes and will not exacerbate inflation, despite new findings saying otherwise from a Penn-Wharton analysis and the Joint Committee on Taxation. #CNNSOTU https://t.co/U6m7NnEuZL
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 31, 2022
“Most businesses and all corporations that I know pay 21%. So that’s not a tax increase; it is closing a loophole,” explained Manchin.
Many Republican legislators think that Manchin is on the wrong track with the latest plan. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) stated this past Sunday in a segment of “Face the Nation” from CBS that the move is entirely bad policy.
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey criticized a new climate, health care and tax package unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin last week, saying Sunday that Manchin was "taken to the cleaners" in the agreement. https://t.co/WWgfXNmlC1
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 31, 2022
“I think he got taken to the cleaners,” expressed Toomey. “He’s agreeing to all this bad policy, and return for which he’s been promised there is going to be some kind of pro-energy infrastructure bill sometime in the future.”