Here in West Virginia, a gallon of regular gasoline averaged more than $4.90 in June, nearly $2 more than it did a year ago. The state’s economy contracted in the first quarter of this year at an alarming 6.1 percent rate, and nearly 60 percent of state residents are having trouble paying their bills.

To say times are tough would be an understatement. Still, as bad as the economic landscape is now, the worst may be yet to come — especially if Senate Democrats, including our own Joe Manchin, pass the recently announced deal he’s struck with New York’s Sen. Schumer that will extend Obamacare subsidies, place price controls on some prescription drugs and advance green energy programs that will subsidize things like electric and hydrogen vehicles through tax credits.

Oh, and don’t forget the proposed massive corporate tax increase and doubling the size of the IRS.

The catalyst of our current economic woes was runaway government spending that flooded the economy with cash. In his first few months in office, President Biden signed legislation obligating taxpayers to nearly $3 trillion in new spending. This torrent of federal funds artificially boosted demand for a whole range of goods and services, which, in turn, led to the sky-high inflation we’re seeing today.

We thought our senior senator was on the right path to protecting West Virginia and the nation from the Biden Administration’s runaway spending and draconian policy aimed to harm our domestic fossil fuel industry. Unfortunately, Senator Manchin has now reversed course, falling in lockstep with his caucus and leaving the Mountain State in the dust.

Interest rates are rising and causing our national economy to slow. Our fossil fuel industry is under attack, threatening our state’s economy. Many economists now believe a recession has already begun. It certainly feels that way.

Given the magnitude of this crisis, one would expect leaders in Congress to recognize their obligation to not make it worse. Yet the legislation now under consideration will do just that.

The original version of the Democrats’ spending bill –called Build Back Better — stalled in Congress late last year when Sen. Manchin refused to accept the bill’s nearly $2 trillion price tag. Democratic leaders scaled it back this summer, but Manchin again rightly said no. Now, however, he says he’s on board for the Obamacare subsidy extension and Medicare pricing reform provisions.

But he had it right the first two times. The latest proposal now reduces the nation’s deficit that ballooned under Democrat (it’s like praising the arsonist for putting out the fire) but does it at the cost of massive tax increases, extending Obamacare, price controls on prescription drugs and subsidies for electric cars that most working-class West Virginians can’t afford.

The policy changes on the table are for the worse in their own right: extending Obamacare subsidies will mainly contribute to the bottom line of insurers. Government price controls on medicines will discourage investment in new treatments and cures.

A corporate tax increase will harm our job creators.

The good news is that Manchin still has a chance to step back from the abyss. He has the chance to return to what will actually help West Virginia move forward and not sacrifice us for the suburban New York and California electric car consumers.

Garrett Ballengee is the executive director of the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy, a free-market think tank founded in 2014.