Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) talks on the phone at the U.S. Capitol on November 16, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)"
Jan 29, 2022
After he announced in December he would not be supporting President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act, Sen. Joe Manchin's political action committee received the maximum allowable contribution from billionaire Republican donor Ken Langone.
The Hill reported late Friday that the wealthy investor, who supported former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, gave $5,000 to Manchin's Country Roads PAC less than two weeks after the right-wing Democratic senator from West Virginia said he would not join his party in supporting the president's agenda.
"We deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder."
Langone's wife also contributed $5,000 to the PAC, while other political donations the megadonor made around the same time went to the Koch family-backed Americans for Prosperity Action and the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC.
As Common Dreams reported in November, Langone praised Manchin's "guts and courage" for standing in the way of the Build Back Better Act's passage and promised to hold "one of the biggest fundraisers" he's ever hosted to support the senator.
Manchin in recent months demanded that the Democrats remove the Clean Electricity Performance Program from the Build Back Better Act, dashing plans to put the U.S. "electric sector on a path to zero emissions," as one lawmaker said. He also refused to support paid family leave and an extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit, which has helped tens of millions of families afford rising grocery bills, child care, and other essentials, before ultimately stalling negotiations over the package in December.
"We deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder," tweeted New York congressional candidate Melanie D'Arrigo this week after CNBCfirst reported Langone's donation to Manchin.
\u201cWe deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder.\n\nThey don\u2019t stand for anything more than what can benefit them most in that moment.\n\nProtect our democracy. Elect an unbought Congress.\u2b07\ufe0f\nhttps://t.co/ah1M9h5MJU\u201d— Melanie D'Arrigo (@Melanie D'Arrigo) 1643326146
In a 2018 book titled I Love Capitalism, Langone wrote about his objection to popular policies pushed by progressive lawmakers including "free college tuition" and "single-payer healthcare."
Donors like Langone, tweeted documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, are "always there to reach across the aisle to make sure to support politicians who take from the poor and give to the rich."
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
After he announced in December he would not be supporting President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act, Sen. Joe Manchin's political action committee received the maximum allowable contribution from billionaire Republican donor Ken Langone.
The Hill reported late Friday that the wealthy investor, who supported former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, gave $5,000 to Manchin's Country Roads PAC less than two weeks after the right-wing Democratic senator from West Virginia said he would not join his party in supporting the president's agenda.
"We deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder."
Langone's wife also contributed $5,000 to the PAC, while other political donations the megadonor made around the same time went to the Koch family-backed Americans for Prosperity Action and the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC.
As Common Dreams reported in November, Langone praised Manchin's "guts and courage" for standing in the way of the Build Back Better Act's passage and promised to hold "one of the biggest fundraisers" he's ever hosted to support the senator.
Manchin in recent months demanded that the Democrats remove the Clean Electricity Performance Program from the Build Back Better Act, dashing plans to put the U.S. "electric sector on a path to zero emissions," as one lawmaker said. He also refused to support paid family leave and an extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit, which has helped tens of millions of families afford rising grocery bills, child care, and other essentials, before ultimately stalling negotiations over the package in December.
"We deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder," tweeted New York congressional candidate Melanie D'Arrigo this week after CNBCfirst reported Langone's donation to Manchin.
\u201cWe deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder.\n\nThey don\u2019t stand for anything more than what can benefit them most in that moment.\n\nProtect our democracy. Elect an unbought Congress.\u2b07\ufe0f\nhttps://t.co/ah1M9h5MJU\u201d— Melanie D'Arrigo (@Melanie D'Arrigo) 1643326146
In a 2018 book titled I Love Capitalism, Langone wrote about his objection to popular policies pushed by progressive lawmakers including "free college tuition" and "single-payer healthcare."
Donors like Langone, tweeted documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, are "always there to reach across the aisle to make sure to support politicians who take from the poor and give to the rich."
From Your Site Articles
After he announced in December he would not be supporting President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act, Sen. Joe Manchin's political action committee received the maximum allowable contribution from billionaire Republican donor Ken Langone.
The Hill reported late Friday that the wealthy investor, who supported former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, gave $5,000 to Manchin's Country Roads PAC less than two weeks after the right-wing Democratic senator from West Virginia said he would not join his party in supporting the president's agenda.
"We deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder."
Langone's wife also contributed $5,000 to the PAC, while other political donations the megadonor made around the same time went to the Koch family-backed Americans for Prosperity Action and the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC.
As Common Dreams reported in November, Langone praised Manchin's "guts and courage" for standing in the way of the Build Back Better Act's passage and promised to hold "one of the biggest fundraisers" he's ever hosted to support the senator.
Manchin in recent months demanded that the Democrats remove the Clean Electricity Performance Program from the Build Back Better Act, dashing plans to put the U.S. "electric sector on a path to zero emissions," as one lawmaker said. He also refused to support paid family leave and an extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit, which has helped tens of millions of families afford rising grocery bills, child care, and other essentials, before ultimately stalling negotiations over the package in December.
"We deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder," tweeted New York congressional candidate Melanie D'Arrigo this week after CNBCfirst reported Langone's donation to Manchin.
\u201cWe deserve better than career politicians auctioning off the policies that affect our lives to the highest bidder.\n\nThey don\u2019t stand for anything more than what can benefit them most in that moment.\n\nProtect our democracy. Elect an unbought Congress.\u2b07\ufe0f\nhttps://t.co/ah1M9h5MJU\u201d— Melanie D'Arrigo (@Melanie D'Arrigo) 1643326146
In a 2018 book titled I Love Capitalism, Langone wrote about his objection to popular policies pushed by progressive lawmakers including "free college tuition" and "single-payer healthcare."
Donors like Langone, tweeted documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, are "always there to reach across the aisle to make sure to support politicians who take from the poor and give to the rich."
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.