OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin announced on Monday that he will oppose one of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the Federal Reserve, leaving her candidacy to join the central bank in serious trouble.
“I have carefully reviewed Sarah Bloom Raskin’s qualifications and previous public statements. Her previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an all-of-the-above energy policy to meet our nation’s critical energy needs,” Manchin said in a statement.
“I have come to the conclusion that I am unable to support her nomination to serve as a member of the Federal Reserve Board,” he added.
“Manchin’s formal opposition all but dooms Raskin’s bid to be the Fed’s next vice chair for supervision, one of the most powerful banking regulators in the world. While it’s possible Raskin could garner support from a moderate Republican, a Senate split 50-50 means anything but a unified Democratic party makes the odds of success for any presidential nominee perilous at best,” CNBC reported.
“Manchin, who last week said that his own party should advance Biden’s four other Fed nominees without Raskin, has for weeks worked to support the U.S. energy industry as oil and gas prices climb after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the report added.
Manchin has been a thorn in the Democrats’ side in recent months.
A few weeks ago, Manchin made it clear there was no way that Biden’s Build Back Better agenda was going to be saved.
The Democrat senator was asked by reporters about the parts of Biden’s speech that mentioned items on his Build Back better agenda and what he thought of him attempting to revive it.
“They just can’t help themselves,” he said.
“I don’t know where that came from,” he quipped.
“Nothing’s changed,” he said.
“There might be parts they want to talk about. I don’t know. That was a little bit far,” the senator said.
He also did not believe the president’s claims that his agenda would lower the deficit.
“I’ve never found out that you can lower costs by spending more,” he said.
That answer prompted Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who was walking alongside Manchin across the Capitol Rotunda and sat with Manchin during the address, to exclaim, “You can’t say it better than that.”
Manchin’s comments immediately raised serious doubts about whether Biden will be able to resuscitate his spending package, which stalled in December after months of negotiations.
Biden tried to appeal to Manchin, the only remaining holdout vote in the Democratic caucus, by arguing that his agenda will help offset the impact of rising prices by lowering the costs of middle-class families.
“One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poorer. I have a better plan to fight inflation. Lower your costs, not your wages,” the president said in his speech.
“Seventeen Nobel laureates in economics say my plan will ease long-term inflationary pressures. Top business leader and most Americans support my plan,” he said.
