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CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. – West Virginians who spoke with Fox News said they supported Sen. Joe Manchin’s decision to oppose President Biden’s Build Back Better Act.
“I absolutely support him,” one woman told Fox News. “Nothing in that bill was going to help West Virginia. In fact, it would cost us jobs, for which we, of course, would be paying as taxpayers.”
After months of negotiations, Manchin told “Fox News Sunday” there was no way he could support the social spending bill known as the Build Back Better Act, putting the massive legislation at risk.
MANCHIN SAYS HE ‘CANNOT VOTE’ FOR BUILD BACK BETTER: ‘I’VE DONE EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE’
“I have always said, ‘If I can’t go back home and explain it, I can’t vote for it,'” the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement following the interview. “Despite my best efforts, I cannot explain the sweeping Build Back Better Act in West Virginia and I cannot vote to move forward on this mammoth piece of legislation.”
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D, W.Va., closes the door of an elevator after a Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2021. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
One West Virginia resident told Fox News: “I support Joe Manchin 120%.” She said she was glad Manchin was “not backing down to Biden because West Virginia is suffering for Biden’s choices.”
Another West Virginia local told Fox News: “I’m praising him.”
WATCH:
Several Democratic lawmakers were outspoken over Manchin’s decision. On Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, called Manchin’s move “an “egregious breach of the trust of the president” and said that Democrats have “every right to be furious with Joe Manchin.”
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York speaks as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer listens during a press conference in the Corona neighborhood of Queens on April 14, 2020, in New York City. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)
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Manchin said that between ongoing inflation, the national debt, “geopolitical unrest” and the COVID-19 pandemic, the bill his fellow Democrats were pushing was too much. Some West Virginians agreed, feeling the bill was too costly.
A West Virginia woman explains why she supports Sen. Joe Manchin
“I think it was the right thing to do,” one woman told Fox News. “Too much money going in the wrong direction.”
Another West Virginia man said: “We don’t need to spend the money and we don’t need to add to the deficit.”
