Widespread Protests To Pressure Joe Manchin Announced In West Virginia

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Leaders of the advocacy organization known as the Poor People’s Campaign have informed Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in an open letter that they intend to launch renewed protests against him in the new year. Manchin continues to face blistering criticism for his blockade of key components of the Biden agenda, including the Build Back Better Act. If enacted, that bill would (among numerous other substantial policies) extend the expanded Child Tax Credit payments that were doled out to families with children on a monthly basis this year — but without passing the bill, what will be the last of those payments have already gone out. Because of the close party breakdown in the Senate, Democratic leaders can’t afford to lose a single vote and still win.

The new letter to Manchin — signed by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, who are co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign — reads, in part, as follows:

‘By obstructing the Build Back Better Act, living wage legislation, voting and immigrant rights protections, you have been downright abusive to poor and low-wealth people in this country. You have used your power to insist that there is no room in this democracy for the basic needs of everyday people. You have blocked investment in our daily lives and prevented legislation to secure the infrastructure of our democracy. We are writing today to be clear: there is room in our democracy for all people.’

Thus, Barber and Theoharis added as follows:

‘We are not going to stop fighting to expose what you are doing and who it is hurting. In the New Year, on Jan 7, we are committing to begin a new season of nonviolent intensification of multiple forms of direct action, led by poor and low-wealth people alongside religious leaders.’

Check out the full letter by clicking on the post below or clicking on this link:

One option for overcoming Manchin’s obstruction would be electing a new Democratic U.S. Senator, which would make Democrats in Congress less dependent on him to get almost anything done. The Cook Political Report currently estimates three currently GOP-held Senate seats to be “toss-ups” heading into the midterm elections — although they rate three currently Democrat-held Senate seats the same way. In other words, the midterms will be a multi-faceted event — and Democrats are getting ready. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which is an official arm of the national Democratic Party that handles races for U.S. House seats, recently announced that they’d seen their best off-year November on record. It finished the month having raised $12.6 million, with a full $73.8 million on hand, and with no debt.