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**SEPTEMBER 30, 2021**

Meyerson on TAP

Manchin: One Mean Megalomaniac

Joe Manchin hath spoken. He prefers a reconciliation bill that's $2
trillion shy of the president's proposal for $3.5 trillion. He prefers
to raise taxes by a relative smidgen when, again, compared to Biden's
formulation. Additionally, as Politico reports
,
based on a Manchin memo from July 28, "Manchin is calling for means
testing on as many new programs as possible, including health care,
child care and education, 'targeted spending caps on existing
programs' and 'no additional handouts or transfer programs.'"
His memo also calls for no spending on such programs as the final
legislation authorizes until all the COVID funds Congress previously
authorized are spent, and that any revenues in excess of the $1.5
trillion with which he says he's comfortable be devoted to debt
reduction. It further demands that the Senate committee he chairs be
given sole jurisdiction over all clean-energy standards, and that the
Federal Reserve cease its quantitative easing.

Manfully resisting all temptation, he declined to demand that the
Supreme Court strike down

**Roe v. Wade**, even though he's an avowed opponent of reproductive
rights.

Where to begin? How about his modest proposal to means-test all new
programs and put spending caps on all existing programs? I presume that
means means-testing the vision, hearing, and dental care that the
government would cover under the proposed Medicare expansion, and
putting spending caps, probably through means testing, on Medicare
itself, not to mention Social Security. I presume that means
means-testing eligibility for pre-K and putting spending caps on federal
aid to education-though once we're means-testing pre-K, it's hard
to see why governments at all levels don't means-test K itself, not to
mention K-12. By all means, let's have government focus exclusively on
some of the poor, in a modest way that doesn't exceed properly modest
spending caps, and let the rest of the public rely on the private sector
for education and health coverage, which the private sector has done
such a grand job of providing for all.

Even without his demand that the reconciliation bill, if enacted in some
form, not take effect until all COVID funds are spent, establishing
means-tested programs takes far longer than establishing universal
programs. And even once they're established, they often take years
before most of those entitled to their benefits become aware of their
eligibility and go through the invariably complicated process to
qualify. Even then, these programs never reach all, or often most, of
those who are eligible.

In short, Manchin wants to diminish not just the quantity of necessary
social investments, but their quality as well.

To be sure, Manchin hasn't said he won't support a higher dollar
figure than the $1.5 trillion he's proposing, and Biden and Chuck
Schumer clearly regard his proposal as the starting point for their
negotiations with him. That said, Manchin's manifesto clearly cements
his hard-won reputation as a megalomaniacal Ebenezer Scrooge.

As for the Silent Sinema, I suspect we'll hear from her only when her
corporate donors tell her what to say.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

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