In an op-ed for the Washington Post published Tuesday ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin called for members of both parties to come together on a reasonable agreement to lift the country’s borrowing power and reduce the national debt.
“From a once-in-a-century pandemic and inflation not seen in decades to a global energy crisis, it is fair to say the American people are ‘crisis-ed out,’” the moderate Democrat wrote. “Given all that anxiety, one would presume that leaders of both parties would seek out compromise to avert an unnecessary, entirely avoidable financial crisis and act soon to raise the debt ceiling.”
“Instead, we are again witnessing a dangerous game of unnecessary brinkmanship that puts our global credit rating at risk and could cost American families and businesses much more if our leaders fail,” he added.
Manchin, a longtime deficit hawk, was one of the most prominent voices calling for President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to come together and negotiate on a deal to lift the debt ceiling ahead of their highly anticipated meeting last week.
The meeting between the two leaders was the latest in the standoff between the White House and House Republicans over the country’s borrowing limit after the U.S. reached the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling earlier this month. The Treasury Department has begun using “extraordinary measures” to fund operations and allow the country to continue paying its debts, which are expected to run out in June.
The West Virginia Democrat said that leaders in both parties are to blame for racking up debt.
“Here are the facts: Our national debt was $14.1 trillion in February 2011,” Manchin wrote. “In the decade since, we have added nearly another $20 trillion to that total with bipartisan enthusiasm.”
“Never in the history of our nation have we so quickly amassed so much debt,” he continued. “Several presidents and both parties played a role in getting us here. While I am proud that the Inflation Reduction Act last year directed $300 billion to deficit reduction — the largest down payment in decades — we must do more.”
Manchin said that both parties want to point fingers at one another “rather than come to grips with the reality that we must raise the debt limit and rein in the out-of-control spending that threatens Social Security, Medicare and our national defense.”
He made two key proposals in his op-ed: Capping annual growth of discretionary spending at 1% over the next decade, which he estimates would save more than $1 trillion, and passing annual appropriations bills on time rather than passing short-term continuing resolutions to fund federal agencies.
“By just passing the annual appropriations bills on time, we would save billions we currently waste year after year,” Manchin said of the latter proposal.
Of the former, he said that lawmakers could cap growth of discretionary spending “without threatening essential programs such as Medicare and Social Security or cutting defense spending at a time when we are grappling with the largest-scale land war in Europe since World War II and an emboldened China that blatantly violates our airspace and dominates global supply chains.”
“It will not be easy, but now is the time for President Biden and our congressional leaders to come together and have an honest, open and public discussion about what we can and must do in the best interest of our nation,” Manchin wrote. “Failure is not an option.”
“With our debt now standing at $31.4 trillion, we as elected leaders must have the courage to work together and act,” he concluded. “Because, make no mistake, the American people will bear the ultimate consequences of our inaction if we allow politics to rule the day.”
