On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that he believes that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) had “an intellectual awakening” where he realized that the idea that spending on climate change is inflationary “was just economically wrong” because “if you raise taxes to pay for spending, it’s not going to increase inflation” and that this change of mind caused Manchin to come around to support the reconciliation bill he agreed to earlier in the week with Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Brooks said, “I think one of the things that turned his mind was the realization that his idea that this was an inflationary bill was just economically wrong, that, if you raise taxes to pay for spending, it’s not going to increase inflation. And so, I think he had a bit of an intellectual awakening. But it shows all the members of the Senate — and we pay too much attention [to] leadership — that if — in a 50/50 body, one person, any one person who’s willing to take the heat has enormous power. And Manchin is willing to take the heat, and at least so far, has exercised enormous power.”
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