Democrat West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin had a stark warning for Americans Wednesday as consumer data for the month of October showed inflation reaching record highs.
In a tweet posted Wednesday morning, Manchin warned lawmakers in Washington DC that they could no longer ignore Americans who are struggling with rising inflation.
“By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not “transitory” and is instead getting worse,” Manchin wrote. “From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.”
Manchin’s tweet comes as the Department of Labor released its Producer and Consumer Price Indexes for the month of October, both of which showed inflation rates at record highs. The Producer Price Index showed that inflation rose 0.6% from September and matched the 8.6% year-over-year rate increase set in that same month.
The increase, spurred on by rising food and gas prices, was the highest rate recorded by the Department, whose records go back to November 2010.
The Consumer Price Index showed a 0.9% month-over-month increase and a 6.2% year-over-year increase from October 2020 to October 2021, the fastest annual rate increase recorded since 1990. The inflation spike also exceeded economists’ expectations of both monthly and yearly increases. The increases were led by fuel, used vehicles, and food.
Manchin’s comments also continue a trend in which the West Virginia Senator has expressed sincere concern about the costs of the Biden administration’s spending plans and the impact it would have on American consumers.
“Throughout the last three months, I have been straightforward about my concerns that I will not support a reconciliation package that expands social programs and irresponsibly adds to our nearly $29 trillion in national debt that no one else seems to care about. Nor will I support a package that risks hurting American families suffering from historic inflation,” Manchin said at a press conference earlier this month, according to The Hill.
Manchin also criticized the Biden administration for its poor handling and shifting of blame for rising fuel costs.
“We have been energy independent for the first time in 67 years,” Manchin told Fox News’s Bret Baier on “Special Report” last week. “Why can’t we do more? Why can’t we produce more? We have got plenty of natural gas. My state, beautiful state of West Virginia, has an ocean of natural gas under it. If they just let us build a pipeline, we could get the product to market.”
“And why don’t we do more drilling, and why don’t we do more basically production in the United States? I’m not depending on OPEC. I’m not depending on other countries for my energy anymore. We know how to do it. We have the technology. We should be resilient, relying on ourselves.”
Manchin’s concerns have forced the Democrat members of the House of Representatives to slash the $3.5 trillion price tag of the Biden administration’s “Build Back Better” spending plan.
As previously reported by The Daily Wire, Manchin, in private meetings, told progressive Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that he was “comfortable with zero” when it came to the cost of the bill, emphasizing his point by making a zero with his thumb and forefinger.
Manchin went on to express concern that the spending bill would add to inflation and that Congress should pause on new legislation.
(Daily Wire).