Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) seemed caught off guard on Wednesday when an MSNBC host confronted him with facts about poverty in his home state of West Virginia.
"West Virginia, great place, hard-working families, a lot of them poor," MSNBC's Mike Barnicle told the senator, "49th for average family income, 46th for the percentage of families living in poverty, 43rd in terms of education and child care."
"What do you need to get behind the child tax credit bill and get that passed?" the MSNBC host wondered.
"Well, Joe, uh," Manchin stuttered as he struggled for a response. "We have a child tax credit in place now, Mike. We do."
The senator then complained that too many West Virginia jobs are not being filled.
"The bottom line is, the prices and wages are coming up," he continued. "But inflation is killing us, Mike. Right now, inflation has overtaken every gain that people have made so the best thing that we can do in America right now is get our financial house in order."
"West Virginians are proud," Manchin insisted. "They are hard-working and things of that sort. We put $222 billion a year into helping people that are having a hard time and all different types of assistance. People forget that like we're just leaving people with no support whatsoever."
Manchin finished his response by calling for more green energy jobs in West Virginia. But the senator never revealed what it would take for him to support the child tax credit bill.
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
