Manchin is “deliberately sabotaging the president’s agenda, what the American people want, what the majority of us in the Democratic caucus want. Nothing new about that,” Sanders, I-Vt., told his co-host ABC “This Week” Martha Raddatz. . “And the problem was we keep talking to Manchin like he was serious. He wasn’t.” “When Manchin sabotages climate change, that’s what’s happening now to future generations,” Sanders said. “In the West, around the world, we’re looking at significantly increased — more and more heat waves. You should be looking at more flooding. This is an existential threat to humanity.” The rebuke comes after Manchin told fellow Democrats he would not vote — at least not immediately — on a party-line proposal to tackle climate change that some lawmakers had hoped would pass with their fragile majority in Congress. Instead, Manchin said, he would support a bill that focuses solely on health care measures like prescription drug prices. Since winning back Congress in 2020, Democrats have been trying to pass major legislation on a range of social issues to fulfill President Joe Biden’s campaign promises and build momentum ahead of November’s midterm elections. But Manchin — and Kirsten Sinema of Arizona — have repeatedly broken with the rest of the caucus over political objections, largely derailing those efforts in the 50-50 Senate. On “This Week,” Sanders said the latest development echoed negotiations last year when Manchin also walked away from a broader social spending bill. Sen. Bernie Sanders is endorsing Pa. state Rep. Summer Lee, who is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for Pennsylvania’s 12th U.S. Congressional District, at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh on May 12, 2022. Rebecca Droke/AP, FILE “The same nonsense that Manchin has been talking about for a year,” Sanders told Ruddage when asked about Manchin’s concerns about inflation, which hit an annual rate of 9.1 percent last month, a 40-year high. “In my humble opinion, Manchin represents the wealthiest people in this country, not the working families of West Virginia or America.” In a statement last week, Manchin said he was considering the day-to-day cost of opposing the climate and tax proposal. “Products such as chicken, eggs and lunch meat have risen to new highs, while energy costs rose more than 40% in June with those who can’t afford it suffering the most,” he said. During his appearance on Sunday, Sanders also lamented Biden’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia, saying the president should not have gone because of Riyadh’s record on human rights, including the killing of dissident Jamal Khashoggi. Washington Post columnist and US resident. US intelligence agencies have estimated that Khashoggi’s killing was approved by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, which Saudi Arabia vehemently denies. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman punches President Joe Biden during his arrival at the Al Salman Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 15, 2022. Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Royal Court via Reuters “Should Biden have gone?” Radach asked. “You have a leader of a country who was involved in the murder of a Washington Post reporter. I don’t think that type of government should be rewarded with a visit from the president of the United States,” Sanders said. (The White House says Biden immediately brought up Khashoggi’s killing when he met with bin Salman last week.) Radach pressed Sanders on whether Biden’s talks with bin Salman made sense in light of high gas prices, but Sanders argued that action around what he called corporate greed could make a bigger difference at the pump . “Oil was at the center of the conversation and President Biden said the Saudis would take action in the coming weeks. Could that make a difference and doesn’t that explain why it went? What would you do?” Radach asked. “One of the things we have to look at is the fact that while Americans are paying $4.50, $4.80 for a gallon of gas, oil company profits last quarter were extremely high,” he said. “And I happen to think that we should tell the oil companies to stop killing the American people. And if they don’t, we should impose a windfall tax on them.”
