Manchin’s IRA fight with Biden meant a loss for him everywhere

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) is leaving the Senate fighting with everyone and pleasing no one.

The West Virginia centrist Democrat-turned-independent was instrumental in writing and negotiating one of the most important pieces of legislation for President Joe Biden’s legacy. And he has spent most of his time since it was signed into law disparaging it.

Biden and the Democrats wanted to use their majorities to push through a historic piece of climate change legislation. Manchin was a speed bump and the key negotiator to trim down the $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” plan to include oil and gas provisions. Instead of appeasing skeptics, the Inflation Reduction Act left his constituents wondering why the massive spending bill had done nothing to push down the price of groceries.

“He knew when he supported the Inflation Reduction Act it would likely make his reelection very, very difficult, if not impossible. He accepted that,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), a Manchin ally, told Politico.

Manchin might have accepted the reality he was going to frustrate colleagues and voters alike, telling Politico’s E&E News that “the politics are what the politics are,” but it hasn’t made his final days in office any easier.

Republicans have been more critical of the legislation than Manchin, who has even suggested he’s open to voting to repeal the law.

Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV), who is running for Manchin’s Senate seat, called it a “real, real screw-up” for Manchin to support the bill. Manchin’s approval rating in the red state dropped by double-digits after he advanced a piece of legislation known to be key for Biden.

Manchin even criticized Biden for believing some administration officials who made promises about the legislation that were out of step with what most voters want.

“I have told him that. I said, ‘Sir, they are leading you down the primrose path.’ They truly are. This is not where America is,” the senator said.

The Inflation Reduction Act has led to seven projects totaling more than $930 million in investments in West Virginia, according to the news outlet. One is the Form Energy battery factory in the steel town of Weirton, West Virginia, where Manchin spoke to onlookers at its groundbreaking.

He made sure they knew he worked with the other side of the aisle after insisting the legislation helped make sure the factory would open.

“And I’m not making a political statement because when we wrote that bill, when we wrote the energy portion, we wrote it with my Republican friends helping me for the last five years,” Manchin said.

His work on the bill could sum up his congressional career, which has seen streaks of Manchin’s freedom of thought ever since he was first sworn into Congress.

“Joe Manchin is fearless,” Hickenlooper said. “He isn’t in this for the popularity contest.”