Yes, Senator Manchin, because I would much rather see more corporate stock buybacks than better roads

WV’s senior senator is against reraising the corporate tax rate:

.@Sen_JoeManchin signaling a hurdle for @POTUS infrastructure proposal re raising corporate taxes to 28%: “If I don’t vote to get on it, it’s not going anywhere. So we’re going to have some leverage here...There are six or seven other Democrats who feel very strongly about this”

— Poppy Harlow (@PoppyHarlowCNN) April 5, 2021

On the other hand:

26 American corporations made a combined $77 billion in income in recent years, and paid $0 in federal taxes.

Maybe that's what happens when you have a president who for years paid no federal taxes and lowered the corporate tax rate.https://t.co/krrEvjcqjT

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) April 5, 2021

For example:

If you paid just $1 in federal taxes in 2020, you paid more than FedEx, Michaels, Nike, Salesforce, and 51 other massive corporations.

Seems fair, right?

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) April 5, 2021

Profits ahead of roads?

Here’s what investigative reporters David Sirota and Andrew Perez found:

Manchin’s Tax Move Could Protect Private Equity Donors

According to the authors, Trump’s tax law gave private equity firms significant tax advantages. In his reelection bid in 2018, the equity firms supported Manchin’s reelection:

Data compiled by OpenSecrets show that was part of more than $212,000 that the private equity and investment industry delivered to Manchin during an election cycle in which he was given a “small business investment” award by a major private equity group that has been lobbying on tax issues.

The authors conclude:

Changing the tax rates now could eat into these private equity firms’ profits. Ares, Blackstone, and Carlyle have all recently lobbied on federal tax issues, according to the most recent federal disclosures.

While Manchin has been fighting to keep the corporate tax rate low, Ares has been explicitly warning investors that “any substantial changes in domestic or international corporate tax policies, regulations or guidance, enforcement activities or legislative initiatives may adversely affect our business.”

And so much for voting rights

The headline from Business Insider:

Rep. Jim Clyburn called Joe Manchin's push for bipartisanship over passage of voting rights legislation 'insulting'

From the article:

"I'm insulted when he tells me that it's more important to maintain a relationship with the minority in the US Senate than it is for you to maintain a relationship with the minority of voters in America," Clyburn told The Huffington Post. "That's insulting to me."

Clyburn said Manchin was jeopardizing Democratic congressional majorities by not backing legislation that would reverse many of the most stringent voting restrictions being implemented by GOP-controlled states, including Georgia, where Sen. Raphael Warnock is up for reelection in 2022.

"Since when do their rights take precedence over your fellow Democrat Warnock, who saw his state just pass laws to keep him from getting reelected?" he asked. "And you're going to say it's more important for you to protect 50 Republicans in the Senate than for you to protect your fellow Democrat's seat in Georgia. That's a bunch of crap."

“A bunch of crap?” Yes, Senator, it’s an accurate description.