Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) just released a statement this morning warning Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that he has “serious concerns” about the massive spending in the $3.5 trillion budget spending plan that the Democrats are trying to push through, particularly in light of the rising inflation and debt. The bill is basically a wishlist of every Democratic agenda item to help them hold onto power.

While Manchin voted yes on a procedural vote to move the bill forward because he wanted discussion on the fiscal policy, he said that he was not in favor of the bill as presently constructed because of the huge cost: “While I will support beginning this process [of budget reconciliation], I do not support a bill that costs $3.5 trillion.”

My statement raising concerns about the consequences of passing a $3.5 trillion budget: pic.twitter.com/gGsEXcVTxd

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) August 11, 2021

From Fox News:

“Over the past year, Congress has injected more than $5 trillion of stimulus into the American economy – more than any time since World War II – to respond to the pandemic. The challenge we now face is different: millions of jobs remain unfilled across the country and rising inflation rates are now an unavoidable tax on the wages and income of every American,” he said. “These are not indications of an economy that requires trillions in additional spending.”

“Adding trillions of dollars more to nearly $29 trillion of national debt, without any consideration of the negative effects on our children and grandchildren, is one of those decisions that has become far too easy in Washington,” Manchin added. “Given the current state of the economic recovery, it is simply irresponsible to continue spending at levels more suited to respond to a Great Depression or Great Recession – not an economy that is on the verge of overheating.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has made similar comments, so it doesn’t appear to have the votes as presently constructed. There are likely more Democrats who are not as vocal who also have issues with the cost. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) also said that his vote to move the budget forward by no means locks in his support for the final product.

Meanwhile, Pelosi and folks like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are saying they wouldn’t vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill until this monstrosity is passed.

So right now, it’s Democrats holding off Democrats in a throwdown as to who will crack and cave first.