(RepublicanInformer.com)- Mitch McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate, whipped votes in an attempt to kill a permitting reform bill put forth by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.
McConnell did this, according to Republican sources, because he believed that Manchin misled him about the state of negotiations on various bills inside the Democratic Party.
Media outlet The Hill reported recently that McConnell instructed GOP senators not to support the reform bill Manchin was putting forward. He said that offering their support for the package wouldn’t be appropriate, given that Manchin misled McConnell.
These orders came down, according to GOP senators, after Manchin came to an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the Inflation Reduction Act.
As one Republican senator told The Hill:
[McConnell] said the idea that we would bail him out after he lied to us, he lied to me — he made it very personal — I hope no one is considering that.”
Right before the Schumer-Manchin deal was announced, the Senate passed the CHIPS Act, a major bill that provided support for the domestic semiconductor manufacturers. McConnell had originally vowed to withhold support for that bill in the GOP if Democrats moved forward with the Inflation Reduction Act through budget reconciliation.
Ultimately, that’s exactly what happened, though. McConnell and GOP senators supported the CHIPS Act so it could get passed with enough votes to not be blocked by the filibuster. Then, Manchin and Schumer came to an agreement so that the Inflation Reduction Act could get pushed through the Senate using budget reconciliation, a maneuver that allowed Democrats to pass the bill without having to get 60 “yes” votes.
The whole ordeal was a major loss for the minority leader of the Senate. Following these incidents occurring, former President Donald Trump posted on his social media network Truth Social that McConnell was “played like a fiddle” by Democrats in the Senate.
Other political insiders believed that Manchin’s move was not good for him strategically. One Republican strategist, Brian Darling, commented:
“Manchin is in the wrong here because the Senate is a small, clubby atmosphere. When you give your word to a senator, that’s considered your bond. It was a very high-profile non-keeping of commitment.”
As a moderate Democrat in a Senate that’s split 50-50 — with Democrats holding the technical majority because the party controls the White House — Manchin currently holds a lot of power.
Since he doesn’t always fall in line with Democratic votes, he essentially has been able to wield his power and hold up votes to get what he wants. He basically singlehandedly whittled down the Democrats’ social spending bill known as the Build Back Better bill from a $3.5 trillion package to one that’s less than $1 trillion.
At the same time, he needs Republicans’ support if he wants to get all of his priorities done, since all the bills that are near and dear to him can’t get passed using budget reconciliation.
So, he tries to play both sides at times, and sometimes, it can come back to bite him.
