McConnell Wanted to Kill Manchin’s Permitting Bill After He Lied Before Signing Schumer Deal

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) whipped votes to kill Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) permitting reform bill because he felt misled by the senator.

The Kentucky senator told members of the GOP not to back Manchin’s reform bill, as doing so would have been inappropriate after McConnell felt he had been misled by the Democratic senator. McConnell’s orders were given after Manchin struck a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the Inflation Reduction Act, with McConnell feeling Manchin had misled him about the state of Democratic negotiations on the act, GOP senators told the Hill.

“[McConnell] said the idea that we would bail him about after he lied to us, he lied to me — he made it very personal — I hope no one is considering that,” said a Republican senator.

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The deal between Manchin and Schumer came hours after the Senate passed a major semiconductor bill, known as the CHIPS Act, for which McConnell had vowed to withhold GOP support if the Inflation Reduction Act moved forward.

The passage of the bill in the Senate and the deal between the two Democrats was seen as a major loss for McConnell, who was “played like a fiddle” by Senate Democrats, former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Manchin is in the wrong here because the Senate is a small, clubby atmosphere,” said Brian Darling, a Republican strategist. “When you give your word to a senator, that’s considered your bond. It was a very high-profile non-keeping of commitment.”

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The West Virginia senator has tried to appeal to Senate Republicans after his apparent swindling, arguing that his permitting reform bill is “not about me.”

Manchin argued Republicans’ “No. 1 priority” is permitting reform because “we can’t build anything in America. It takes five to 10 years. The developed world takes one to three years.”