Joe Manchin digs in: 'Under no circumstances' would break tie to nuke filibuster and pack court
Joe Manchin said on Tuesday he is committed to voting against packing the courts or ending the legislative filibuster no matter what situation arises.
“Under no circumstances would I support packing the court or ending the filibuster if there is a 50-50 tie,” said Manchin in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
In a deadlocked Senate, Manchin could be the deciding vote on a wide range of issues — somebody who could make or break Joe Biden's efforts to pass legislation.
In a wide-ranging interview, he laid out his views on the policy areas Democrats needed to focus on, and he was deeply critical of many items on the progressive wish list.
"Defund, my butt!" he said in response to the idea of stripping funding of police departments. He also criticized efforts to provide "Medicare for all" and said Biden needed to focus his presidency initially on fighting the coronavirus, and after that, on rebuilding the nation's infrastructure.
Manchin's answer on the filibuster is a departure from Biden’s hedge last summer, when he told reporters the firmness of his position “is going to depend on how obstreperous” Senate Republicans are when he is president.
His proclamation limits the Democrats once Biden takes office. It means that even if they sweep January's Georgia runoffs and end up with 50 seats, with Kamala Harris, as vice president, giving them the majority, they will be unlikely to bulldoze through revolutionary changes.
“I really think that when you break the filibuster, you break the Senate, and I'm not going to be part of breaking the Senate, I can tell you that,” he said. “The Senate is a pretty special place because the Founding Fathers intended it to be that way. But they also intended us to work in a bipartisan way and to where the minority always had input. You break the rules of the filibuster, the minority has nothing. There's no purpose whatsoever. You're no different than a glorified House."
Manchin, who calls himself a “West Virginia Democrat,” is the last of a dying breed in his party. When he came to the Senate in August 2010 after a special election to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd, his state had two Democratic senators, the governor’s office, all of the state row offices, and the majority in both state chambers.
Last Tuesday, his party was wiped out across the state, losing the state Treasurer’s office for the first time in 92 years, all of the statewide elected row offices, the governor’s office, all three congressional seats, the other U.S. Senate seat, and most of the legislative seats.
It was a red tsunami Manchin said he is painfully aware of.
“Democrats have to be better at defending what they stand for, and every candidate has to be able to defend themselves," he said. "I'm a West Virginia Democrat. I don't believe in the Washington philosophy, Washington national Democratic parties, and you have to [be] better at articulating that."
And he added not get caught up in the Twitter world.
“We are the party of the working men and women, and we forget how to talk about that in a meaningful way,” he said.
Going into last week’s election, the Democrats were expected to win a healthy amount of seats or at least enough seats to have the majority. Iowa’s Joni Ernst, Maine’s Susan Collins, and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis were all projected to lose in the high single digits, yet all prevailed — Ernst and Collins comfortably.
Manchin doesn’t mince words on his disappointment, “They really should have won those races.”
“I think the Democrats, basically, look, you need to be true to your state and the people in your state," he said. "When I talk to West Virginians about West Virginia, they want someone to understand hardworking people make a lot of sacrifices that are heavy lifting. All they want is an opportunity, a chance for not so much looking for a handout, just to give them that ability to have the education and the skill sets and just push some jobs their direction."
He said people need to know you are fighting for them and protecting their jobs.
Whether he likes the spotlight or not, both he and Collins are poised to become the two most important and pressured U.S. senators in the chamber.
“I've always voted independently," he said. "That's the difference. All the senators are important, but some of them are so predictable. They always vote 90% of the time with a D or an R depending on which party. I vote 50% of the time either way, so if it makes sense, I vote for, it could be a Republican idea or could be a Democrat idea. If it doesn't make sense, I'm against it either way."
He continued, “What I think what we need to do, and everybody, every candidate is responsible, not just leadership. Because, my God. [Sen. Chuck] Schumer has a very difficult job on the best day possible, he can't, but every candidate has to speak loudly and clearly."
Manchin said that this summer's rallying cry of progressives, "Defund the Police," made no sense to the typical voter.
With a sense of exasperation, he exclaimed, "Defund, my butt.”
Manchin said, “What we should be doing is funding more money to the police, educating, and protecting them better. Here's where they take a team education, so they know where the social changes are happening in the neighborhoods. That's what we should be doing with police,” he said.
“[Democrats] are not speaking clearly about that. They let them get attacked,” he said.
He also went after the socialist wing of the party for demanding "Medicare for all."
"Hell, we're not able to take care of the Medicare for some that have earned it. I said, Christ, you want Medicare for all, you'd better take care of the some you already owe it to,” he said. “Next of all, let's work and clean up the Affordable Care Act. Let's get some Republicans to help us truly get a good healthcare bill. Some people want to know what we stand for, these are the things we've always stood for,” he said.
Manchin, who says he shares a warm relationship with Biden, said if he had his ear, he’d tell him to get to a couple of things immediately.
“First of all, you have to heal the country," he said. "We've got to fight this pandemic, the coronavirus. OK? Get our country back working again, then go right into infrastructure. It's all about the jobs. It's about bringing America up ... you know what? There's not a damn pothole in America that won't bust your tire, whether you're Democrat, Republican, it ain't going to protect either one of you. Basically, that's the one thing that we can all agree on. If it's a falling down bridge, it could be my bridge that falls down, could be my road, or my tire that gets busted. It could be basically just broadband and high speed, we need all the way over rural America.”
As for the question he gets asked the most, “Will he switch parties?” his answer remains the same. "Well, I've gotten that all the time because I'm so independent by vote. I still believe very strongly in Democratic principles and who we are, the party Democrat that wouldn't reach out to the bottom of their soul in order to try to help somebody."
He added, “But also, I believe that we have a responsibility to the people that can't help themselves, get them up and start making them do something. Don't just keep giving handouts. People just have the perception Democrats just want to give away everything. I don't. I wasn't raised that way. I'll help you if you're down and out. If you can't take care of yourself, I'll make sure we take care of you, but by golly, if you can contribute, get off your ass and start working.”
The answer he says is still no.
By: Salena Zito
Source: Washington Examiner
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