"Joe Manchin Doesn't Want an 'Entitlement Society.' "

[bluewater]

Senator Joe Manchin wants progressives to make a choice. According to Axios, Manchin believes they “need to pick just one of President Biden’s three signature policies” so he’ll sign on to the Build Back Better Act. Paid family medical leave, the expanded child tax credit, child-care subsidies — choose one, Manchin (allegedly) says, and forget the others. Behind this cold-blooded political calculus there are real families. Manchin is worried about them in his own way. “I’ve been very clear when it comes to who we are as a society, who we are as a nation,” he said on Wednesday. “I don’t believe that we should turn our society into an entitlement society. I think we should still be a compassionate, rewarding society.”

Manchin was responding to Senator Bernie Sanders, a key architect of the bill, who’d organized a press conference urging the West Virginia Democrat and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to explain precisely what they dislike about it. That Manchin, a conservative Democrat, and Sanders, a democratic socialist, have little in common ideologically is hardly news. With his rhetoric, however, Manchin did more than distinguish himself from Sanders. He helped distill the debate over the Build Back Better Act into its most basic essence.

The BBBA is, by the standards of American legislation, a sweeping act of social policy. It would significantly ease burdens on American families, for whom access to child care and paid leave have always depended largely on socioeconomic status. Wealthy parents have always been able to afford child care, and the other attendant costs of child-rearing are of no great concern to them. We already live in an entitlement society, and the beneficiaries prosper. Manchin’s own relatives can perhaps testify to this.

The senator’s daughter, Heather Bresch, was until recently the CEO of Mylan, and as the Washington Post reported in 2016, her “career has risen along with her father’s, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by her critics.” In 2007, while Manchin was governor of West Virginia and Bresch had just been named the chief operating officer of Mylan, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found that she hadn’t earned an MBA from West Virginia University as she’d claimed. “The school, through its own investigation, found Bresch had been given grades ‘pulled from thin air’ because of her ‘high profile,’” the Post rehashed.

What did Bresch do with her position? She helped orchestrate a massive increase in the cost of the EpiPen, which contains medicine that people with severe allergies need to stay alive. Manchin himself proved luckier than the average EpiPen consumer. “Before it became Viatris, Mylan was one of the largest campaign contributors to Manchin’s campaigns in five election cycles, donating around $211,000 to his campaigns since 2009 through PACs and employees,” Open Secrets reported last month. This isn’t welfare, which is what Manchin likely meant when he used the phrase “entitlement society.” But it shows entitlement of another kind. The affairs of the Manchins provide a useful glimpse into the way American society tends to work for the households who lord over it.

And so, from such lofty heights, Manchin worries that the American family will get used to affordable child care. That they will feel entitled to services they otherwise could not afford. Maybe to a wealthy man, the expansion of the social safety net looks like a threat to his position, a leveling out that empowers the common man and undermines him as the king of Capitol Hill. They might feel entitled to more than child care. They might want better health care, too. A better life, which requires the kind of public spending that keeps the Democrat awake at night. The Build Back Better Act won’t create an entitlement society. It’ll even things out. And that, it seems, is what Manchin truly fears.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-manchin-doesn-e2-80-99t-want-an-e2-80-98entitlement-society-e2-80-99-we-already-live-in-one/ar-AAPfwF7?ocid=uxbndlbing

[msongs]

1. he is unwilling to be responsible for his own choice on the matter nt

[jimfields33]

2. He was asked to specify what he wanted.

Manchin did that finally. Now the bill can be voted on. Let’s get these ills signed.

[bluewater]

3. What exactly did Manchin specify?

[leftieNanner]

6. He wants the Dems to make "Sophie's Choice"

You can have the child tax credit, or paid family leave, or child care assistance - but not all three. "Pick one!" he says.

[msongs]

5. he said others had to choose what to cut, not specifically what he would cut nt

[bluewater]

15. Thanks!

[bluesbassman]

7. Exactly. It's a "heads I win, tails you lose" proposition.

What ever "choice" is made, there will be large segments of the populace, and from his own constituents, that will feel abandoned and shortchanged. Manchin will be able to deflect any criticism by merely stating that he was "for" the dropped provision, and those greedy Progressives chose the own pet "entitlement" and that's why YOU didn't get yours. Pretty neat trick if he pulls it off.

[leftieNanner]

4. It's not a zero sum game, Joe.

Your state of West Virginia really needs these things. You could lift up your constituents to better lives and better productivity. Better jobs all on their own initiative. Women who have paid leave and good child care will be able to enter the work force.

Arrogant rich man.

[ymetca]

8. But we ARE an entitled society, Joe

Entitled to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by our very own Constitution, and what we choose to make of that aspiration.

But let's all hail "Immortan Joe" Manchin!

Not enough to go around for us, the Great Unwashed.

[Bev54]

9. Joe Manchin thinks he is entitled to decide what everybody else is entitled to

Talk about entitlement.

[Demsrule86]

10. Axios is a right wing leaning site...don't believe what they say...let's see what happens.

[bluewater]

12. Two media bias rating sites say Axios is "Left-Center" and "Center", respectively.

Axios
Last updated on April 5th, 2021 at 02:16 pm

Axios Left Center Biased, liberal and trustworthy with high credibility and reliability.

Factual Reporting: High - Credible - Reliable

LEFT-CENTER BIAS
These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information but may require further investigation

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/axios/

Axios
News Media

AllSides Media Bias Rating: Center
AllSides Media Bias Rating: Center
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https://www.allsides.com/news-source/axios#Sept2020

[world wide wally]

11. 2 + 2 equals Manchin sucks

[rickyhall]

13. I don't give a fuck what Manchin does or doesn't want.

[madinmaryland]

14. How about we rid society of the Entitled Billionaire Class, joe. Guys going into space

Costing tens of millions of dollars.

[UTUSN]

16. Such as living on a yacht?!1