: Manchin says, "I will vote to move forward with the budget process because we must

[riversedge]

Thank you Senator



@briantylercohen
·
4m
NEW: Manchin says, “I will vote to move forward with the budget process because we must address the urgency of the COVID-19 crisis.”

The $1.9 trillion COVID relief package is now poised to pass through budget reconciliation (simple majority).

Link to tweet

?s=20

[PatSeg]

1. Thank god, I was getting worried about him

[mountain grammy]

88. I was too, but he knows how important this is for his state.

Only republicans care nothing about their constituents. He's conservative and has pissed me off, and sometimes I thought he would jump ship. But, bottom line he has something Democrats have that republicans don't; empathy.

[PatSeg]

90. Yes, I've been afraid

at times that he might switch parties and then when he said "Absolutely not. No." to proposed round of $2000 checks, I became extremely concerned. Obviously his constituents didn't agree with that. At least for now, he's going to be on the right side of history.

[mountain grammy]

95. Yep, keeping my fingers crossed for the Joe from WV

to continue to be on the right side of history.

[Mary Mac]

102. We are fortunate to have him.

Until we get Puerto Rico, Texas and DC we need Appalachia.

[PatSeg]

103. This is so true

I know it is really hard to get any Democrat elected in Appalachia, so we are lucky to have him and the Biden administration seems to know how to handle him.

Hopefully during the Biden administration, we can get statehood for Puerto Rico and DC. Hawaii and Alaska became states in my lifetime, so it could happen again.

[lagomorph777]

2. Very good news; he apparently wants to stay in office.

[pnwmom]

57. The Republican Gov. of WVA might have paved the way for him, when he made the case yesterday

for a large Covid relief bill. He all but told Manchin to vote for it.

[lagomorph777]

71. Yes - and apparently the Governor got some advice from VP Harris.

The Biden Administration is KILLING IT!

[BobTheSubgenius]

86. By "it" I hope you mean the GOP.

[lagomorph777]

101. Yup!

[radius777]

97. Yep, Manchin didn't like it, but clearly Biden had Kamala

do interviews with local WV stations to light a fire under Manchin's ass.

[PatSeg]

100. This is going to be an unstoppable administration

Only two weeks and already Biden and Harris are exceeding my expectations in so many ways and I already had pretty high expectations. Joe's many years of experience in the senate are paying off. Apparently he knows how to whip the votes.

[lsewpershad]

77. Exactly.

[Ninga]

3. Maybe hungry, jobless, and small business owners gave him a piece of their minds. Nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. The GOP governor of WVA made it pretty clear to him, I think.

[Ninga]

16. That too! Shame he has to be nudged in the right direction.

[My Pet Orangutan]

56. It's a 'Make Me Do It' moment

If Manchin did not actually write the Press Release, he approved it.

[Dave in VA]

21. I have family in WV

and they think that the Gov will run against Manchin. Gov got out in front of Manchin and made it appear that Manchin was just wanting to be some DC inside player and not representing the needs of the people of West Virginia. Now Manchin looks weak.

[NHvet]

34. The Governor

is an R with a BIG piggy bank. Richest person in WV. Hopefully he doesn't run

[BGBD]

76. He'll be luck to be alive

in 2024. Last I saw him in person he wasn't able to walk more than a few feet. He had to hitch a ride on a golf cart to move 20 yards away from where he was. He has a stool brought everywhere he goes so that he can sit while he talks because he can't stand.

Besides that, he's not a senator type. He wants to be an executive. He doesn't want to stand up and vote, he wants to boss people around and make all the decisions. He'd rather just go back to running his resort.

I sincerely doubt he's interested in running or that he would be able to physically.

With that said, Justice isn't Trump and there are a LOT of republicans in the state who will run and many are a lot worse than Justice.

If Manchin runs he will win the seat. As soon as he doesn't we will lose it.

[Yavin4]

44. "Manchin was just wanting to be some DC inside player and not representing the needs of the people

of West Virginia."

Yep. He just played himself. Listening to Beltway consultants in the hopes to appease big donors will cost you big time in today's political world. Only a minute fraction of the electorate care about fiscal responsibility. Most people in WVa are struggling, and they need help. Ignoring them to please some special interests is political suicide.

[radius777]

98. +1. WV was historically a conservative Dem state.

While they may differ from the modern Dem party on social issues they clearly are to the left on economics and always have been.

Manchin has been hanging around Mitch and Susan too long and doesn't get that Biden (and Ossoff and Warnock) won by running on an FDR type agenda.

Nobody refuses money - especially in an emergency/pandemic - and even the Repub gov of WV seems to 'get' that (thanks to Kamala).

[Staph]

64. No way that Governor Justice will run against Manchin for the Senate.

There was a lawsuit against Justice because he spends most of his time at his home about 125 miles away. The WV constitution states that the governor must "reside at the seat of government", but Justice is also the girl's basketball coach at his local high school and he can't coach from 125 miles away.

He couldn't coach the girls from DC.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Manchin ran for governor in 2024. In the past, he has said that he preferred being governor, the one in charge, instead of being a senator, one of one hundred.

[BGBD]

79. That's right

He's not going to want to be in Washington. He's too tied to Greenbrier County. He's also not going to be interested in being a member of congress. That's just not his jam.

I mentioned in my post above that he's also in pretty bad health. The man can't stand or walk for any length of time and he easily has a BMI of over 50. I expect he's got heart disease, diabetes, and all of the things that come with being a man that large and close to 70 years old. He makes Trump look like he's in shape.

I wouldn't be surprised if he's coaching his girls in a game one way in a year or two and just drops over dead of a massive heart attack.

[NewJeffCT]

22. On some issues, Manchin is okay. When a journalist

asked him about a potential $2 trillion infrastructure plan, Manchin said $4 trillion would be better.

[AlexSFCA]

46. WV has officially the worst infrastructure in the US

[NewJeffCT]

89. I remember in the early 2000s

some economists said that to stimulate the economy after 9/11, the US needed to invest a good $2 trillion to modernize & upgrade the nation's infrastructure. Just imagine if we spent that money doing that instead of invading Iraq? Instead, the national infrastructure has gotten very little upgrading the past 15-17 years.

[LenaBaby61]

73. Maybe hungry, jobless, and small business owners gave him a piece of their minds.

Two friends from WV said that ALL of their relatives are struggling like hell. I specifically asked both friends if every family member's struggling and they said ALL of them in every family, and all of them still hate Pres. Obama and hate the Democrat party, yet my friends told me that they'll have their hands out for that stimulus money though.

I told her to tell their family members to make a BOLD statement and not take that Democrat money. She said naw, they're all thuglican grifting-types and will gladly take that money as they grumble, curse and raise holy hell on the Democrat party

[electric_blue68]

4. Oh, good!!! (phew)

[Mr.Bill]

5. We now have a one-man Senate.

[Demsrule86]

37. Well, if we didn't we would be in the minority...you think any Covid package would pass?

And the same is true of every Senator.

[Mr.Bill]

50. Well, there's about 48 of them we can rely on.

And the only reason the Covid package will pass is because of what the WV Governor said yesterday.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

91. I doubt that.

[Mr.Bill]

92. That's why I said "about."

[Hermit-The-Prog]

93. No, I doubt that the R governor is the reason Manchin voted the way he did.

Without evidence to the contrary, I choose to believe that Democrats like Harris, Biden, and Schumer had more influence on Manchin's vote than a Republican governor.

[pnwmom]

58. The Arizona Senator is another centrist. n/t

[WHITT]

6. He Thought He Had Leverage

but his own Repub Gov boxed him in.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Harris and the Governor boxed him in on both sides.

[jcgoldie]

14. Yeah some thought Harris had made a mistake

Like she accidentally stepped on Manchin’s toes... pretty sure she stepped on his toes on purpose and it worked.

[Irish_Dem]

18. Bingo. Harris and Biden deliberately put Manchin in a headlock.

[iluvtennis]

28. Yes, indeed. nt

[groundloop]

48. Let's hope it doesn't contribute to him losing his seat.

As much as I dislike his position on getting rid of the filibuster I understand that we can now at least make progress on some very important issues which wouldn't happen if a GOPer had his seat.

[Mr.Bill]

52. When he comes up for reelection

we will either have more than 50 seats, or we will have lost some.

[Irish_Dem]

62. That is why Harris has been talking directly to the West Va people.

And I assume there will be more visits or ads, in addition to some goodies to the state.

[Irish_Dem]

84. If the Covid Relief bill is not passed a lot of Dems will lose their seats.

[Doremus]

59. It was a beautiful thing.

Reminiscent of LBJ. I love the new take-no-prisoners attitude. Hope it continues!!

[Irish_Dem]

63. Yep, pure LBJ. Or West Wing episode.

They moved like lightening to take care of Manchin.

[Doremus]

68. They dispatched him swiftly indeed.

RL West Wing. lol

[LenaBaby61]

82. "Bingo. Harris and Biden deliberately put Manchin in a headlock."

You mean a Hammerlock DDT

[Laelth]

40. That was no accident. n/t

-Laelth

[LenaBaby61]

75. "Harris and the Governor boxed him in on both sides."

[FBaggins]

53. He did and still does

People are badly misreading this if they think it means that Biden's package is now a done deal or that reconciliation is now guranteed.

All he did was allow the resolution to move forward so that weeks of negotiations weren't held up. That's hardly unexpected.

[Lucinda]

7. KNR

[Budi]

8. After the meetup with both Biden & Kamala, Manchin was convinced.

Thank you!!!

[Irish_Dem]

10. I so wish I could have been a fly on the wall for this meeting. nt

[Budi]

25. Lol. Bet Manchin gave up the argument when they entered the room

I mean, c'mon. Manchin totally enjoyed the meeting

[Irish_Dem]

29. I assume Manchin whined a bit about Harris coming into his state.

Without a curtesy notification. And a bit more showing his self viewed power.
But he left a changed man.

[Budi]

35. Not so much. Not when the spirit of his long time friend, Joe Biden lights up her way forward

👍💙

[Mr.Bill]

55. And don't forget that Covid package

contains a $6.25 an hour raise for every one in West Virginia making minimum wage. That's a lot of votes. I wouldn't want my Senator voting against that. Same thing for Texas. I wonder how many people that will take off food stamps.

[Raven123]

12. Manchin spoke against the plan right out of the gate for no discernible reason.

Should have done his homework first.

[Budi]

30. Probably had to play the politics of his State. He's an old pro at the game

His constituents will all be better off & he knew it.
I honestly don't believe there was much negotiating needed in the end & in private, between Manchin, Biden & Harris.

Done deal & we step forward.

[LenaBaby61]

78. Should have done his homework first.

Yet he gets pass, after pass, after pass from other Dems just because he's a Dem in a deep red and mostly ignorant state.

With Democrats like HIM.

Let me pull back, and just be happy that I'm NOT living in West Virginia, and that I DO feel sorry for those who are struggling & stuck there with those idiots who STILL hate Pres. Obama and who still hate Democrats but WILL take that Democrat stimulus money gladly 🙄

[moondust]

13. Thank you, Joe (not Lieberman)

for not being the spoiler (like Lieberman was).

[Etherealoc1]

15. The strategy worked!!!

VP Harris took it to the constituents,
got the Governor to openly endorse
the relief package and left Manchin with no choice.
Ground game.

[Tanuki]

17. It was brilliant of VP Harris to take the matter directly to Manchin's

constituents by doing two local television interviews last week. He was not pleased.

[Maven]

20. Yes. She is brilliant and anyone who doubts her political instincts just learned a lesson. nt

[Demsrule86]

24. You do know that Biden sent her...I am sure they cooked it up together...it is a Biden kind of

move...and I agree she is smart.

[Laelth]

36. Oh, yes. Biden deserves the credit, here.

He DEPLOYED VP Harris to WV. He is playing his hand brilliantly.



-Laelth

[Demsrule86]

38. They both are...what a team!!!!

[Laelth]

43. She did her job perfectly.

I am thrilled.

Yes. It’s a great team.



-Laelth

[IronLionZion]

31. I'm impressed that Harris has influence in WV

considering their political leanings and demographics.

[Demsrule86]

39. Certain issues play everywhere and that is how we win back states.

[IronLionZion]

74. It's good to win back states

Dems should do this more often

[thucythucy]

19. Yes!!!

Do it today!!

[Demsrule86]

23. OK, I am going to say it...told you so. Manchin comes through when needed now tell the

so called progressive group (?) who want to primary him and Sinema and put us back in the minority to stand down.

[Budi]

33. No shit. And put Mitch back as Maj leader. gggaaaagh!

Nope. It took us decades to get the Senate..

[magicarpet]

49. Yes,... and if Manchin will not permit the end of the filibuster .... Rethugs hold the chair on ....

.... senate committees although Dems are the majority.

And with the filibuster in place ReThugs will decimate Biden's ability to pass any bills core to his agenda.

With the ReThugs ability to abuse the filibuster intact it makes Biden look like a do nothing president and the House and Senate in Dem control look like a do nothing congress. If that is not a recipe to lose the majority in the. House and Senate and hand it to the ReThugs, I don't know what is a better way to lose majority leadership.

[LenaBaby61]

85. "Yes, .. and if Manchin will not permit the end of the filibuster .... Rethugs hold the chair on ..

.... senate committees although Dems are the majority.


And with the filibuster in place ReThugs will decimate Biden's ability to pass any bills core to his agenda.

With the ReThugs ability to abuse the filibuster intact it makes Biden look like a do nothing president and the House and Senate in Dem control look like a do nothing congress. If that is not a recipe to lose the majority in the. House and Senate and hand it to the ReThugs, I don't know what is a better way to lose majority leadership ..."

[liskddksil]

70. Could we wait into the thing actually passes before we all sing kumbaya? This is only step 1 of this

process.

[Laelth]

26. Yes! Major victory!

Well done, Democrats.



-Laelth

[Tom Rinaldo]

27. We are so fortunate to have him as a Senator from West Virginia

I am sure that Democrats in States like Idaho and North Dakota would gladly trade in one of their Republican Senators for a Democrat like Joe Manchin. Me, I live in New York, and no way could I support Manchin as a Senator from here.

[WHITT]

32. The Gov

said this is no time to be worrying about money, we need to go big. He even went so far as to say even if some of it is wasted, so what, the money is still going out into the economy.

How could Manchin argue with common sense like that?

[durablend]

41. Good!

Floor on the gas and if a couple of Republicans get run over, too bad so sad. Assholes are still whining about how it's "tyranny" what Democrats are doing (so says one LTTE). Fuck them.

[mcar]

42. Can that group on the far left

Stop with the primary nonsense now and focus on beating Republicans once?

[Autumn]

45. So his leverage went the way of the buffalo.

I would love to know what the people in his state had to say to him.

[onetexan]

47. Adaboy Senator-i-need-to-dither-Manchin

Do whats right for the american people

[Hulk]

51. How about that...

... he does the right thing and he gets praised like a king. The other 49 have been doing the right thing all along and they just get taken for granted.

Manchin is a stooge.... and I have about as much respect for him as I do for Susan Collins.

Now I wonder if any repuKKKes will join the winning side.

[Cozmo]

54. Yup, ya hit the nail on the head!

[My Pet Orangutan]

60. Manchin has a D after his name.

Loathe the guy, but don't compare him to the Rs.

He will vote to convict. He is one of ours.

[pnwmom]

61. Except Manchin votes with progressives about 60% of the time and Collins half as often.

But other than that they're both the same, LOL.

[Mr.Bill]

65. Our focus should not be on letting him vote against so he can keep his seat.

Our focus should be on electing a few more D Senators in '22 so it won't matter if he keeps his seat. And I'm sure the DNC is quite aware of that.

[pnwmom]

69. We need more like him, actually, in EVERY red state. In 2016, WVA voters

chose Trump by the biggest margin in the whole country. It's a real achievement to have a Democratic Senator there, even if he only votes with progressives 60% of the time.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

66. Well, we'll get at least this one legislation passed before

permanent gridlock begins again.

We need at least 55 Democratic senators in 2023, so that we can get things done without conservative Democrats assisting McConnel in blocking all our legislation at every turn.

[Aviation Pro]

67. A lot of West Virginians will benefit from the quick passage of the bill

Even if they voted for the orange, lying sack of shit.

[BGBD]

72. As he was always going to

Manchin knows what he needs to do and people, both here and in Washington need to give him the room he needs to say things that he needs to say. He is always there when we need him, have some faith.

[Historic NY]

80. Joe saw the light, its was the Biden train coming through the tunnel

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice Breaks with Joe Manchin, Calls for Large Stimulus Bill

[link:https://www.newsweek.com/west-virginia-governor-jim-justice-breaks-joe-manchin-calls-large-stimulus-bill-1565868|]

[Nanjeanne]

81. Thank goodness. I felt hopeful when the Rep Governor said yesterday he wanted a big stimulus package

and that West Virginians were suffering. Manchin would look like a fool if he bucked the Democrats and the Republican Governor and his own constituents after that!

[Jon King]

83. Time for Dems to govern with confidence....

Go big, give the people things that help them. Let the cards fall where they may in 2022. My bet is good governing and going full bore on helping people instead of giant corporations will be rewarded.

But they have to continue to go big and bold.

[camartinwv]

87. I knew Manchin would come around, one way or another

I grew up in WV and spent 20+years of my adult life there. Manchin always does this. He either wants something and has to bought off or pressured. He needs figure out where his party loyalties lie.

[honest.abe]

94. Great news!

He has come through for us many many times. He is a team player.

[mvd]

96. Good for him!

He is not exactly my favorite Democrat. But we’ve tried to primary him, and have had no success. So I guess we’re lucky to have him from WV.

Now the Repukes have no choice but to go to our demands.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

99. Biden needs to keep an eye

On Manchin and slap his ass in line do whatever you have to Biden to cut this fucking asshole wannabe kingmaker off at the knees if he fucks over the people..