Manchin Says Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill Remains ‘Fiscal Insanity’ on Eve of Vote

His vote is critical to the bill’s passage

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington in a file photograph. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), on the eve of a voting deadline for the Democratic leadership’s $3.5 trillion spending bill, decried the measure as “fiscal insanity,” warning that it would not get his vote without further adjustments.

“I cannot—and will not—support trillions in spending or an all-or-nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces,” Manchin said in a statement late on Wednesday.