Manchin hits Biden over energy messaging: 'Please take credit'

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) urged President Biden to change his campaign messaging on energy policy Tuesday, claiming a switch towards holding up his energy accomplishments could bring him more success.

Manchin, an architect of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), said the president should better inform Americans of what the law is doing for them, and brag about how it has changed domestic energy production.

“We’re producing more energy today than ever in the history of the United States of America. We're producing more energy than anyplace else in the world,” Manchin said at the Axios What’s Next Summit. “We are energy secure.”

“Have you heard the president say we're energy secure? When have you heard that President say that that piece — the IRA, this marquee legislation, paid down $230 billion of debt,” he continued. 

“They don't talk about those things,” Manchin complained of Biden. “And I said, ‘Please take credit.’ We did it. You had to sign it.”

Biden’s IRA messaging has mostly focused on the green energy portions of the bill and his administration’s commitment to fighting climate change, in addition to portions focused on electric vehicles. Manchin said that’s because Biden “has gone too far left,” citing his experience working with the president in the Senate.

“You're always in the center, making the deal. I've worked with you. I knew. Now, all of a sudden, you're clear over where there's no deal to be made because you've already been pushed to the side over there,” He said of Biden. “And you're playing to basically the same 20 percent. And there's nothing wrong with that, but I said, ‘You're gonna have a hard time winning if you're way over here.’ Because that's not where most of us are.”

“We want energy. We want it cleaner. We're producing more energy than anywhere in the world. We're producing oil and gas cleaner, anywhere in the world. We're producing more wind and solar than anywhere in the world,” Manchin added.

“We're doing it all now,” he said. “Take advantage. Take credit for that.”

The comments Tuesday follow a Monday op-ed in The Washington Post, where Manchin again urged Biden to be “proud” of his “energy success.”