Manchin criticizes ’17 educated idiots’ advising Biden during Covid

Outgoing Independent West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin criticized some recommendations President Biden A document taken during his time in office, arguing that the guidance created blind spots for the President on inflation, immigration and Afghanistan.

Appearing on CBS’ “The Takeout” podcast on Friday, Manchin talked about how he tried to persuade Biden to work across the aisle on the American Rescue Plan and warned about the dangers of inflation if democrats He implemented plans to extend unemployment benefits through October 2021, but thanks to the advice of 17 Nobel laureates, those plans were ignored.

“I warned and I was criticized about this, as you remember, they told me they were 17 Nobel laureates,” Manchin said, later arguing that they were “17 educated idiots” who told Biden “what you want to hear because you want to hear it.” I paid them.”

Still part of the Democratic Party in the early days of the Biden administration, Manchin played a critical role in determining how much of the new president’s agenda would pass the Senate.

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Senator Joe Manchin stands to speak with reporters at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 1, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Democrats have held a slim majority in the upper chamber throughout Biden’s tenure and relied on Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote to pass the administration’s agenda; This meant that the moderate West Virginia senator’s cooperation was key to passing many items.

Manchin would eventually decide not to run for re-election and leave the Democratic Party altogether after a decades-long political career in the party, arguing that he needed to be “honest” with himself.

“To remain true to myself and maintain my commitment to putting country before party, I have decided to register as an independent without any party affiliation and continue to fight for America’s reasonable majority,” Manchin said in a May 2024 announcement.

Senator Joe Manchin questions Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler during a Senate subcommittee hearing on July 19, 2023 in Washington, DC (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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In an interview with CBS, Manchin noted that Congress operates in a bipartisan manner. Trump administration He decided to send out stimulus checks in the early days of the pandemic shutdowns, arguing that lawmakers “made a mistake” on the action side but later realized that pumping so much money into the economy “was a mistake.”

However, Manchin reminded that Biden went to Ankara immediately. budget reconciliation process Trying to pass the American Rescue Plan in the Senate was something the then-Democratic senator resisted.

“Do you remember when I stopped and shut down for about eight or 10 hours? It was because they were extending unemployment benefits and we had a vaccine that worked. So I said to him, ‘You have a vaccine that works.’ There are people who have money because we’re sending checks to everybody.” ‘” Manchin said, adding that he had warned that American spending would likely inflate the economy after months of quarantines and several rounds of stimulus.

Sen. Joe Manchin waves to visitors on the Senate steps as he leaves the Capitol on May 4, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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“When you do that, inflation hits you hard and now you’re still keeping people out of the workforce because you’re going to give them an extension of unemployment benefits through October 2021 and they can do that.” Manchin said he would not return and could not be threatened with losing unemployment benefits. “There’s a perfect storm hitting you.”