You know, I knew Dems would start leaking dirt on Joe Manchin to punish him for his performance on Fox yesterday, but I have to say, I didn't expect this! Via HuffPost:

Publicly, his biggest gripes are about the cost of the bill. But privately, Manchin has told his colleagues that he essentially doesn’t trust low-income people to spend government money wisely.

In recent months, Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children, according to two sources familiar with the senator’s comments.

[...] Manchin’s private comments shocked several senators, who saw it as an unfair assault on his own constituents and those struggling to raise children in poverty.

Manchin has also told colleagues he believes that Americans would fraudulently use the proposed paid sick leave policy, specifically saying people would feign being sick and go on hunting trips, a source familiar with his comments told HuffPost.

Now, he might even be right. I live in a neighborhood not far from the heroin and oxycontin capital of the East Coast, and nothing would surprise me. I mean, even the local librarians are trained to treat overdoses!

But people use drugs for reasons. Crushing poverty, trauma, poor health care, unaffordable housing, chaotic home environment. The less money, the fewer social supports people have, the more likely they are to fall into drug use when times are hard.

I guess these nuances are just hard to see from on high from Joe Manchin's yacht.