Joe Manchin is Forcing Congress to Think About the Deficit. Good.

Among Americans who aren’t liberal pundits, the debt and deficit rank as major concerns. It’s about time Congress noticed.

by Eric Boehm
Reason.com

Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.) didn’t play in Wednesday’s annual congressional baseball game, but he managed to throw the best curveball of the evening anyway.

In a lengthy statement, Manchin spelled out the reasons he is unwilling to support the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package his fellow Democrats are hoping to push through Congress within the next few days or weeks. “Spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs,” he said, “when we can’t even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity.” Manchin went on to say that he worries about how more government spending might drive inflation even higher, how higher taxes necessary to pay for that spending will make it harder for small businesses to compete with big retailers like Amazon, and how an expanded welfare state might slow the ongoing economic recovery.

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