Manchin Raises Alarm Over 40-year High Inflation Report, Threatening Already Down-Sized BBB

US Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) questions US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra as he testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies regarding the 2023 proposed budget estimates for the Department of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2022. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP) Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a longtime critic of inflationary policies in Washington, blasted the White House and congressional leaders for not doing enough to stem the tide of rising inflation, potentially endangering Democrats’ hopes of passing a scaled-down version of the Build Back Better (BBB) social spending package.

On July 13, the Department of Labor released its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), showing that consumer prices have gone up by 9.1 percent over the past year, exceeding predictions and hitting a new 40-year high.