Sen. Manchin Calls Out VP Harris: She’s “Dead Wrong” To Call Border Secure

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (WV) is getting a massive amount of blowback back home for his support of the deceptively named Inflation Reduction Bill.

His constituents have been re-electing him every 6 years because of his stance against radical green agenda legislation that would cripple his state’s huge energy production industry and for his resistance to signing off on massive spending bills leading to increased inflation and national debt.

So when Manchin became the only person in the United States Senate that could stop the Inflation Reduction Bill, which includes language and policies that will violate all three, the expectation was he would stand firm.

Well, he did not, insisting the state would actually increase energy output while at the same time giving the administration a much-needed legislative victory.

On Tuesday Manchin snapped back into form by breaking with much of his party.

He called out Vice President Kamala Harris for her absurd statement that the Mexican border is secure to be “dead wrong.”

Harris told NBC over the weekend that “the border is secure” and that such security is a priority of hers and President Biden’s.

In a follow-up comment, Harris appeared to blame Donald Trump for any “deterioration” along the border, and then called for a “pathway to citizenship” for those who illegally entered the United States.

Manchin kade his comments about the vice president during a Fox News interview, in which he was asked by anchor Bret Baier whether Harris’ “secure” statement was correct.

BAIER:  Vice President — Vice President Harris said this weekend the Southern border is — quote — “secure.”

MANCHIN:  It’s wrong. She’s dead wrong on that. And I have said this.

“If we don’t secure it — I voted every time for the wall. But we need the wall and a lot more, technology, more agents. The 2013 immigration bill was still the best piece of legislation I think that we have ever had before us. We couldn’t get it passed through the Republican House at that time because of some politics involved there.”

“And they — the amnesty people were shouting the word amnesty. That piece of legislation would have corrected everything we have going wrong. But, for anybody, the vice president, president, anybody to say our borders are secured, that is not accurate. I have been there. It’s wrong.”

During Biden’s inflation reduction “celebration” at the White House, on the day inflation figures increased and the stock market was plummeting, Manchin defended the Inflation Reduction Act as a responsible agreement that in one aspect will allow for the opportunity for increased domestic energy production, against the will of the progressive wing of his party.

“The Inflation Reduction Act is something my staff and I worked extremely hard on to make sure it was balanced. The most important thing we want to do is what our Republicans; my friends; [have] always talked about: produce more energy,” he said.

“This bill will produce more energy. We’ll drill more oil, will produce more oil, produce more natural gas.”

In response, anchor Bret Baier noted that the act is still “not reducing inflation” despite its title.

Manchin countered by insisting that if more oil and natural gas were to enter the market through increased production, it could at the least reduce inflation in the U.S. energy sector.

“On top of that, we have the Medicare reduction – as far as putting that and being able to negotiate, [like] in my state [where] 300,000 people on Medicare are going to see reduction of their drug prices.”

Manchin’s confidence in the extra energy output in West Virginia is based on his expectation that the Democratic leadership will follow through with the deal that they made in order to win his support for their now-passed climate, tax, and health care bill.

Under the deal with Manchin, worked out by President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the trio agreed “to pass comprehensive permitting reform legislation before the end of this fiscal year,” which ends on October 1.

The provisions are designed to expedite energy and infrastructure projects subject to environmental reviews.

Following the bill’s passage though, progressives in the caucus announced they will be working to block the deal that Schumer maded over environmental concerns.

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