Jeff Bezos says Manchin saved Biden administration 'from themselves'

Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos said in a tweet on Sunday that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) had saved the Biden administration “from themselves” by blocking spending proposals that Bezos said would have further fueled inflation.

In a tweet on Sunday, Bezos said that the Biden administration “tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves.”

“Inflation is a regressive tax that most hurts the least affluent. Misdirection doesn’t help the country,” he added.

The billionaire’s comments come after Manchin said last month that Democrats’ budget reconciliation bill should focus on addressing inflation and reducing the deficit.

​​“Reconciliation to me is about getting inflation under control, paying down this debt, getting a handle on what’s going on,” said Manchin, who killed the Biden administration’s Build Back Better legislation earlier this year.

The senator has previously said he wants half of any revenue to go toward federal deficit reduction, arguing that is the “only way you’re going to fight inflation.”  

Biden has said that getting inflation under control is his top domestic priority, but has few options to take the heat off on an issue that is hurting his party politically.

Bezos’s Sunday tweet was not the first time the Amazon founder has said President Biden’s efforts on the economy were misguided.

On Friday, he tweeted a criticism in response to Biden asserting that the U.S. should address inflation by making certain “the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share.”

“The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non Sequitur Board instead,” Bezos said. “Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection.”