Joe Manchin Called Out McConnell To His Face For Caring More About Wall Street Than American Families

McConnell received a well-deserved thrashing from Joe Manchin for putting corporations before people.


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Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) had enough of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) focus on Wall Street instead of on the health and financial well-being of the American people and their families, going so far as to call him out directly to his face on the Senate floor.

Manchin has been frustrated with the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic from the beginning, especially since President Donald Trump have still not delivered the supplies hospitals and states desperately need to fight the pandemic.

But Manchin had even more reason to be ticked off after Senate Republicans chose to hand billions of dollars to corporations rather than focus solely on getting healthcare workers and American families what they need.

After McConnell attacked Democrats, Manchin used his time to skin the Kentucky Republican alive.

“You can throw all the money at Wall Street you want to,” Manchin began. “People are afraid to leave their homes. They’re afraid of the healthcare. I’ve got workers who don’t have masks. I’ve got healthcare workers who don’t have gowns. And it looks like we’re worried more about the economy than we are the healthcare and the well-being of the people of America.”

An angry McConnell interrupted by defending the corporate bailout.

“The American people are waiting for us to act today!” he said. “We don’t have time for this! We don’t have time for it! In what way would the Democratic Party be disadvantaged?”

It’s not that the Democrats are “disadvantaged,” it’s that Republicans would rather bailout corporations instead of bailing out the American people, who need financial assistance more. But Republicans fleeced taxpayers out of more money for corporations while giving very little aid to those who actually need it, and that simply is not tolerable.

Manchin pointed out that McConnell could use the nuclear option and pass the bill via majority vote, but he wants Democratic support because bipartisan passage would take some of the heat off Republicans when the public discovers that they’ve been swindled again for the sake of Wall Street getting richer. McConnell has also been pursuing corporate immunity from liability lawsuits and a payroll tax cut while rejecting additional food stamp aid and another round of stimulus checks.

McConnell attempted to respond, but Manchin reclaimed his time and continued hammering away.

“We just have a little different opinion about this,” Manchin said. “You can’t throw enough money to fix this if you can’t fix the healthcare. My health care workers need to be protected. But it seems like we’re talking about everything else about the economy versus the healthcare. That doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever. It seems like we’re more concerned about the healthcare of Wall Street. That’s the problem that I’ve had on this.”

Here’s the video via YouTube:

Featured image via screen capture

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