Manchin blasts Biden in scathing WSJ op-ed, claims he's ignoring debt crisis: 'Political malpractice'

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Joe Manchin: Weight of our own debt is the 'greatest threat we face'

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., on revoking 'most favored nation status' for China, energy independence and reining in U.S. government spending.

Note: This article has been updated with a response from the White House.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., called out the Biden administration's "political malpractice" in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday and said they were "ignoring the debt and deficit implications" of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

In the op-ed, headlined, "Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Betrayal," Manchin argued the Biden administration is "determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security." 

Manchin wrote the administration was ignoring the Inflation Reduction Act's support for fossil energy and attempting to redefine "domestic energy" in order to increase "clean energy spending."

"Instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security," he said. 

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Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks during a news conference on Sept. 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington.  (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

"The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed. Ignoring the debt and deficit implications of these actions as the time nears to raise the debt ceiling isn’t only wrong, it’s policy and political malpractice," he continued. 

Manchin added that Biden was the only one who could "rein in this extremism." 

He called on the president to implement the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed in August 2022, as it was written and added that Biden administration needed to stop redefining credits and subsidies in order to save taxpayers millions in spending. 

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U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at an event marking the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House on March 23, 023 in Washington, DC.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

CNN's Don Lemon asked Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to respond to Manchin's op-ed during "CNN This Morning" on Thursday. 

"Everything that we do in this administration conforms to the law as written as passed by Congress and as signed by the president," Buttigieg said. "The way the administration is advancing this is designed to ensure that we have economic security," the cabinet secretary added.

Manchin also said Biden needed to "sit down with fiscally minded Republicans and Democrats to negotiate common-sense reforms to out-of-control fiscal policy."

"Mr. Biden was elected to lead us all to solve problems. We can’t allow them to be made worse by ignoring them. The president has the power, today, to direct his administration to follow the law, as well as to sit down with congressional leaders and negotiate meaningful, serious reforms to the federal budget," he wrote. 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks with Bret Baier during "Special Report With Bret Baier" at FOX News D.C. Bureau on September 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images)

Politico reported in February that Manchin was "livid" over the administration's implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Despite Manchin's pledged support for the bill after months of debate with party members and the president on proposed legislation, the outlet reported that he has been "raising hell" on Capitol Hill over how the Biden administration is rolling it out. 

Manchin torched Democrats who view the act as a vehicle to fight climate change rather than an "energy securing measure." He called their perspective "bulls---" and accused them of seeking to "starve" Americans "out of energy."

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A White House official told Fox News Digital: "We have a strong and productive relationship with Senator Manchin. We are proud of the Inflation Reduction Act and our shared goals it achieves—promoting America’s energy security, strengthening supply chains, creating good-paying manufacturing jobs, and investing in energy communities and towns across America that have been left behind."

Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hayes and Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.