Conservative Billionaire Donor Says He'll Raise Funds for Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) removes his mask to speak as bipartisan members of the Senate and House gather to announce a framework for new COVID-19 relief legislation at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 1, 2020. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Conservative billionaire Ken Langone has said he will hold a massive fundraising event for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

Langone shared the comments during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box“ on Wednesday.

“I’m going to have one of the biggest fundraisers I’ve ever had for him,” Langone said during the interview. “He’s special. He’s precious. He’s a great American.”

Manchin has become a key player among Democrats who has remained the main holdout vote over the party’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better spending plan.

The moderate Democrat has already successfully helped negotiate the legislation to officially half of its original $3.5 trillion price tag. It has been noted by a nonpartisan organization, however, that it would actually cost $2.4 trillion. Senate Democrats hope to push the revised version of the bill through budget reconciliation to vote on the bill without the need of overcoming a filibuster, a supermajority measure that would require 60 votes in the Senate.

The current Senate is evenly divided at 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote. Democrats will need every senator to support the bill, including Manchin.

Manchin still opposes some measures in the revised bill. In addition, he has expressed past concerns with including a reversal of the Hyde Amendment, a long-standing policy that has kept taxpayer dollars from funding abortion.

Langone has not previously donated to Manchin’s campaigns, according to the CNBC report. In 2016, the GOP financier supported then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Manchin does not face reelection until 2024, the same year as the next presidential election. So far, no specific plans have been released regarding a fundraising event for Manchin supported by Langone.

Manchin took to Twitter on Wednesday to warn that unprecedented inflation is not “transitory,” as his party insists, but is only “getting worse.”

Currently, inflation of the U.S. dollar is at its highest level since 1990. According to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation jumped by 0.9 percent in October alone, more than doubling September’s 0.4 percent increase.

The energy sector has been hit the hardest by rising costs according to different Labor Department data.

The CPI showed a 30 percent increase in the price of energy in October. The price of gasoline itself increased by a staggering 49.6 percent in October.

These increased prices have been partly driven by an intentional effort by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to decrease their oil production. At the same time, the United States has cut its own oil production significantly since President Joe Biden, who promised to “transition away” from fossil fuels during the 2020 presidential campaign.

The cost of food also increased by 5.3 percent during the month of October, riding on the back of unprecedented supply chain issues.

Joseph Lord contributed to this report.