Manchin: Downgrade of America’s credit rating a ‘historic failure’ of political leadership

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to correctly reflect the end of the federal government’s fiscal year.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has railed against the nation’s record-high debt, on Thursday called Fitch Ratings’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+ a “historic failure of leadership by both political parties and the executive branch.” 

Manchin, who is flirting with a presidential run as a third-party candidate backed by the group No Labels, has regularly criticized what he views as the lack of bipartisan cooperation in Washington.

He blamed the nation’s latest credit downgrade on the inability of Republicans and Democrats in Congress and President Biden to make significant progress in addressing the nation’s $32 trillion debt.  

“The credit agency specifically cited the decline in governance, erosion of cooperation in the federal government and ballooning national debt when making the determination to lower our credit rating,” he said. “This is a stark warning that cannot be ignored. We must act now to fully fund the government and address our national debt before we wake up to a future where America’s superpower status is in jeopardy and we have lost the confidence of our allies around the world.” 

Manchin criticized Biden for showing a “deficiency of leadership” in April after he initially refused to sit down with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to negotiate a deficit reduction package in exchange for raising the debt limit.  

Biden and McCarthy eventually negotiated a deal to cap defense and nondefense discretionary spending, reform the work requirements linked to federal food assistance and claw back unspent COVID relief funds as well as money allocated to the IRS to improve tax compliance.  

Manchin said lawmakers and the president have an opportunity to take other steps to improve the nation’s fiscal outlook with the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year approaching.  

“Now, more than ever, it is time for elected leaders from both parties to work together and send a clear message to the world that we will take the necessary fiscal and budgetary steps to restore our credit rating and keep America’s economy strong for this generation and the next,” Manchin said.  

The West Virginia senator is up for reelection next year in a state that former President Trump carried with overwhelming margins in 2016 and 2020. Manchin says he will announce his decision on whether to run for another term at the end of this year or early next year.  

–Updated at 12:14 p.m.