Jack Birle writes for the Washington Examiner about one Republican group’s plan to target a high-profile Democratic senator.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is being targeted by an advertisement from a Republican-aligned group for his support of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The video comes one year after President Joe Biden signed the bill, which focused more on healthcare and climate initiatives than reducing inflation, into law. The advertisement framed the Inflation Reduction Act as an attack on “West Virginia coal jobs,” among other criticisms in the video released by One Nation.
“Sen. Manchin played a pivotal role in writing President Biden’s green energy scheme. Now, 100,000 West Virginia jobs are at risk,” the narrator in the video said.
“Sen. Manchin did a victory lap. He proudly took credit for passing the job-killing bill. President Biden even gave him the pen. Our West Virginia way of life is under attack. Tell Sen. Manchin to change course: Defend our coal jobs, not D.C. liberals’ climate policy,” the ad concludes.
While Manchin supported and was the key vote in the Senate for the Inflation Reduction Act, he has distanced himself from the legislation in the months since it passed.
The West Virginia Democrat has reportedly been frustrated over the bill’s implementation, specifically the climate and energy initiatives. In April, while appearing on Fox News’s Hannity, Manchin entertained the idea of voting to repeal the bill if the Biden administration does not make good on implementing energy security promises in the legislation.
“Let me be very clear: If the administration does not honor what they said they would do and continue to liberalize what we are supposed to invest in over the next 10 years, I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening,” Manchin said in April. “And if they don’t change, then I would vote to repeal my own bill.”
