‘It’s All of Our Fault’ Manchin Says of Debt, Calls for Bipartisan Action

Senator Joe Manchin (D.W.Va.), broke with the Democrat party line and called for future spending cuts, along with an increase in the nation’s debt limit.

“The American people have had enough of the accounting gimmicks and budgetary games that we play in Congress, and it’s got to stop,” Manchin said, decrying the $31.4 trillion national debt in a Senate floor speech on March 2.

“We’ve been spending more than we bring every year for the past 21 years, and the debt that has resulted from that is absolutely crippling,” Manchin stated. “How many citizens how many of your constituents, my constituents … can basically run a deficit that long and still have a home, have a family, be functioning in any way, shape, or form?”

Manchin asked members of Congress for a discussion about the conversations they had at their kitchen tables about their finances. He also called on them to take responsibility for reining down federal spending that has risen by 80 percent in a span of less than 10 years.

“Our problem really isn’t a Republican problem or a Democratic problem, it’s truly an American problem,” Manchin stated.

“And only as we start putting our country first and acting as Americans can we fix it,” Manchin stated. “The continuing weaponization of the debt and deficit and the political games that we all play, need to stop.”

Manchin, who is up to reelection, said that Congress should pass the 2024 budget within Sept.30.

Manchin noted that the country hasn’t passed a budget in time for over 20 years. He suggested that lawmakers be paid withheld when the budget is past due.

“We shouldn’t go home until we get it done,” Manchin stated. “And we shouldn’t get paid.”

The 1985 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of85 sets forth a timeline for different stages of budget approval. This timeline begins with the submission by the president of a budget draft by February 1st and ends with the passing of the budget by Congress on September 30th.

Both branches of government often ignore deadlines.

President Joe Biden said that he will present his budget proposal March 9. Manchin noted that both the budget committees of each chamber failed to pass budget proposals last fiscal year.

According to Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Manchin’s speech was a refreshing change from politics as usual.

“I thought it was refreshing and welcome to have somebody put aside partisan politics to try to focus energy on one of the big challenges we need to address,” MacGuineas said so to The Epoch Times.

“He laid out a plan with a sensible way to engage in discussion about where to generate the savings and have that discussion start where it’s supposed to, with the budget committees, who need to do their job,” MacGuineas stated.

Although economists have reservations about the comparison between the federal debt and that of a family or a business, MacGuineas stated Manchin’s analogy of a kitchen table is true.

“The argument that [federal debt] doesn’t matter because we have the power of the printing press is dangerous and one of the things that contributed to our having high levels of inflation,” MacGuineas stated.

“Those are the kinds of free lunch arguments that lead to real economic destruction.”

The Epoch Times requested comments from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., chair of the Senate Committee on the Budget and JodeyArrington (R.Texas), chairman of the House Budget Committee. They did not receive responses by the deadline.