On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that he doesn’t see gas prices or inflation decreasing “at all.” And argued that “you’ve got to get your financial house in order” and ensure American energy independence.
Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “The president is also blaming the high gas prices right now — and the inflation — he’s blaming Russia, labeling it Putin’s price hike. Can the White House really though, claim Putin is solely responsible? Because prices, as you know, have been rising long before the Russian invasion.”
Manchin responded, “Well, no doubt about it, that’s made a great increase, as far as in the price of fuel at the pump. But the inflation is what’s killing all of us. I can tell you, inflation is hurting every West Virginian. And everybody that goes to the store or drives to work or whatever is seeing it directly affecting their decisions they’re making and how they’re providing for their family. Inflation is the one killer. It is a tax. Inflation is a tax, no matter how you look at it. And you’ve got to get your financial house in order. You’ve got to have a tax code that works. You’ve got to fight the high cost of prescription drugs. And we’ve got to also — we can walk and chew with our climate positions in our country by basically making sure that we’re energy independent. We have the cleanest fossil fuels. We produce them cleaner than anybody. And also, we have the ability to invest in the new technology and the cleaner technology that we need for a better climate. We can do it all.”
Blitzer then asked, “Inflation right now as bad as it’s been…in 40 years. It’s pretty serious. Do you believe inflation and gas prices, for that matter, Senator, are only going to get worse before they get better?”
Manchin answered, “I don’t see them regressing at all. I called this a long time ago, last year, with everything that I saw and everybody that I talked to that I believed had the know-how and the knowledge to explain to me and show to me the graphs. We were in unchartered territory, and when everybody was saying it was going to be transitory, it will go away in a month or two, there was no way that I saw [with] what they were showing me that that would happen. And I said, before we go down the path of a major bill and spend another $3 trillion, let’s take a pause, let’s look at what we’re doing. Because we don’t know what inflation’s going to do, we don’t know what COVID’s going to come back, and we don’t know basically the geopolitical unrest. Well, guess what, inflation came back and it’s now basically here and it’s growing. We’re at 7.9%. And then you have the COVID, we had the Omicron come, that was absolutely devastating. And then, on top of that, we had the geopolitical unrest that turned into a war, an unconscionable war, Putin’s war on Ukraine, and these innocent people, what they’re facing now is just unbelievable. So, we have to basically be stable and make sure we take care of [ourselves], be strong enough to help our friends and neighbors.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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