Biden push for new stimulus checks runs into roadblock from key Democratic senator

[ForgoTheConsequence]

Source: Washington Post

President-elect Joe Biden’s plans for a major new economic relief package boosting stimulus payments to $2,000 ran into possibly fatal opposition from his own party Friday as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said he would “absolutely not” support a new round of checks.

Manchin, a moderate who will hold great sway in a Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, made his views known even as the Biden team worked to develop a coronavirus relief package that would include new stimulus checks, extended unemployment benefits, and more.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/01/08/biden-stimulus-plan/

---

Link to tweet

[dweller]

1. How do his constituents

like him now ?

✌🏻

[sandensea]

72. And among the poorest in America, at that.

It ain't Newport Beach.

[moose65]

84. Yeah really

This seems really stupid of him. West Virginia has some extreme, extreme poverty.

[empedocles]

2. W. Va is so poor, in bad shape. What is going on there?

[NHvet]

59. long time blue dog democrat

or a DINO, he needs to step aside

[Harker]

33. Yep. A whiff of power. n/t

[choie]

4. Just the beginning

of manchin's blockade

[beachbumbob]

5. only need support of any 60 senators to do this

[TexasBushwhacker]

56. Yeah, the problem before was McConnell

He just refused to bring any bill to a vote that he didn't personally approve of. He has hundreds of bills on his desk, many with bipartisan support in the house, that he just tabled. I don't think a single senator should have that kind of power.

[beachbumbob]

58. there is post where its stated if stimulus checks are part of reconciliation package, only 51 votes

needed. I have not verified.

[dhill926]

6. isn't West Virginia one of our poorest states....

the hell is wrong with this guy. Anyway, go after Romney, Murkowski, etc.

[DFW]

62. exactly

They already expressed their support for the measure

[Faux pas]

7. He's

an effing DINO and should have been voted out years ago.

[kwolf68]

28. Problem is

In THAT state, he is really the best you can get. It's sad. I mean look at Alabama, Doug Jones won his election a few years ago BARELY, against a pedophile rapist. BARELY WON there. West Va no different, Democrats are public enemy number 1. Shocked Manchin actually stays a Democrat to be honest. Still, for as much as I can't stand him, as a Liberal myself, I welcome different viewpoints to our Democratic tent. At least within reason.

[MyOwnPeace]

82. Like I posted elsewhere.......

Manchin's been a royal PITA for a long time now - and the article calls him a "moderate?" I think it would be more like a DINO.
And now he has more power than ever since he can be the single vote needed for something.
It is amazing that he'd be against the next check - his state (W.Va) would certainly be one that would benefit from such a bill.

This all reminds me of the "Blue Dogs" (more DINO's) that PRESIDENT OBAMA had to work with to get some of his programs passed early in his administration.

We REALLY do have more work to do to get some solid footing in both the House and Senate in 2022. That doesn't mean I'm not pleased with where we are - it's a good start!

[Garibaldista]

100. Any "Jim Jeffords" types waiting in the wings...

...or a (R) Senator who would take an ambassadorship? Perhaps that's more appealing an idea after "Epiphany Day" (as some on DU have dubbed it in bitter irony)

[reader1]

85. Very astute observation.

Agreed. We cannot expect everyone in the DNC to have the same viewpoint. This zero some attitude lead will the dems downfall again in the future. However, he may be just doing this for political postering but will change his mind later and fall in line with the Biden momentum.

[mac56]

88. Agreed. We need to let Biden get with him.

This ain't Biden's first rodeo.

[Captain Zero]

106. Promise him six more lanes on the interstate bypass of Lewisburg

then he will vote for it.

Build a new Federal building, name it after him.
Extra airport runways at Charleston.

You get the idea.


If you ever are driving in Kentucky you will be out in the middle of nowhere in that state on six lane highways and beautiful parkways with hardly another car. How did that happen?

[Dopers_Greed]

29. So you would rather have the Dems stay as minority?

Manchin is the only Dem that can win in WV.

[UCmeNdc]

92. It would be good for West Virginia voters if the Democratic Party actually delivered for them.

[Zipgun]

96. No, but a question how he interjects himself into things the democrats want. Seems to create

controversy to boost his personal interests and power.

[groundloop]

30. Unfortunately we need him now more than ever. At a minimum Biden will get his cabinet picks....

and federal judge nominations. I hate that we can't just tell this guy to go fuck himself, but it's just the reality of having such a razor thin hold on the Senate.

[Mr.Bill]

48. I wouldn't even count on him

voting for Biden's judicial nominees.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. Need to just come out with it

‘Whaddya want, Joe? I know you want something.’

[elleng]

9. *"Absolutely not. No. Getting people vaccinated, that's job No. 1," Manchin said

in an interview with The Washington Post when asked if he would support a new round of checks.

“How is the money that we invest now going to help us best to get jobs back and get people employed? And I can’t tell you that sending another check out is gonna do that to a person that’s already got a check,” Manchin added.

“You know, we have a difference of opinion,” Manchin said regarding Schumer’s promise to move quickly on the checks. “That’s the beauty of our whole caucus. We have a difference of opinion on that.”'

[Backseat Driver]

95. Really Manchin? This says your state's ahead of the vaccination game

https://www.scpr.org/news/2021/01/07/96043/why-west-virginia-s-winning-the-race-to-get-covid/

Why West Virginia's Winning The Race To Get COVID-19 Vaccine Into Arms

[snip]So far, West Virginia is outpacing the rest of the country. Having delivered vaccine to health workers and completed a first-round of shots at all its long-term care facilities, the state is now administering second doses and moving on to other populations, including people age 80 and over, and teachers who are 50 and older.

Meanwhile, many other states are still struggling with the complex logistics of distributing the life-saving medicines.

"A lot of people are looking to us as a state, because after the first week we had, I believe, something like 90% of doses allocated to our state in arms — which was really unheard of elsewhere," says Garofoli, who is also a clinical associate professor of pharmacy at West Virginia University.

So far, West Virginia is outpacing the rest of the country. Having delivered vaccine to health workers and completed a first-round of shots at all its long-term care facilities, the state is now administering second doses and moving on to other populations, including people age 80 and over, and teachers who are 50 and older.

Meanwhile, many other states are still struggling with the complex logistics of distributing the life-saving medicines.

"A lot of people are looking to us as a state, because after the first week we had, I believe, something like 90% of doses allocated to our state in arms — which was really unheard of elsewhere," says Garofoli, who is also a clinical associate professor of pharmacy at West Virginia University. [snip]
============================

Since we're all in this together, DeWine would surely stick it to WV residents who cross the bridges over the Beautiful Ohio to get a vaccine - Heck, with a Real ID, they could even fly into Mitch's KY -

[Humanist_Activist]

109. He just seems dumb as a bag of hammers, and hammers are useful.

He does understand what the fuck a STIMULUS check is for, right?

[4Q2u2]

10. What a suprise

Can't see the poverty from his office in DC.

[AKing]

11. Soon as I saw the headline I knew it was going to be DINO Manchin

[pnwmom]

38. We used to have a bunch of infuriating DINOs. So we brilliantly primaried them all out.

And they were replaced by Republicans, and that was the end of our 6 to 7 vote Senate majority.

[JonLP24]

104. I don't think it was primaries

A lot of them lost on their own to Republicans. Something like Justice Democrats didn't exist until after 2016 but they don't do much or is as successful in Senate races.

[trueblue2007]

76. isn't there a way to remove him & get a REAL Democrat in there.. one who will work WITH Pres Biden?

[asiliveandbreathe]

12. What do you suppose Manchins "pork" request is??? n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

54. THIS

As everyone knows, one of his predecessors - Robert C. Byrd was a master at it (and they voted him back in every term).

[Mr. Sparkle]

13. This is a great issue where we can do a lot of damage to Joe Manchin

i have n idea who he is listening to, but it isnt the people of west virginia

[SheltieLover]

14. Lets hope mitch resigns

Cut prick manchin off at the knees.

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. Prediction: if Dems pick up more Senate seats in 2022, Manchin will flip to GOP

Schumer should strip him of all committee assignments, floor votes only.

[Polybius]

36. I think he does it this term

If Schumer pisses him off, it would be the perfect revenge to get him out as Majority Leader.

[DesertRat]

47. I think you should look up the definition of traitor

I strongly oppose Manchin's position, but he's not a "traitor". Welcome to DU.

[johnp3907]

51. .

[yaesu]

17. Manchin will use his new obstruction power to get whatever he wants, is probably the Senator

with the most power now due to this.

[DemocraticPatriot]

18. Well, that is disappointing...

I hope we won't need his vote on this, but--jeez.

Guess HE doesn't need the money.

[Freddie]

19. There are probably a number of Repug senators

Who would vote for it, to increase their chances of re-election.
With McConnell gone, there will be some bills passed with bipartisan support since they won’t all be obstructed.

[Stand and Fight]

20. I knew it was this sack of shit before I even read the article. n/t

[Tommymac]

21. He is as self serving as Trump and Cruz and Hawley. Needs to be publically shamed.

Arrogant prick.

[lonely bird]

22. Didn't take long for Republican senator Manchin to show his colors

We do not have a majority as long as an asshat like him is in the senate.

[stillcool]

23. He's lifting his leg

prematurely. What else is he going to piss all over?

[gab13by13]

24. Work to get a Republican Senator then.

Susan Collins is probably really concerned about poor Maine residents. People in Alaska could use the money. Just make a push to get a Republican or 2.

[mountain grammy]

25. I'll never trust Joe Manchin.

[progree]

26. 140,000 jobs lost in December, and 9.8 million since February (NET job losses)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142662799

and 19.2 million drawing unemployment benefits from all programs combined https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

but some people might get 2 checks, OMG!

[Etherealoc1]

27. Everytime

President Obama faced the same crap.

Self preservation first, forget about Party unity.

Full agenda on pause.

[shotten99]

31. Joe Lieberman redux

[Polybius]

35. More like Zell Miller redux

At least Liberman was great on social issues.

[shotten99]

45. Point taken

Zell was an asshole. A disgraceful fraud of a human being

[PoliticAverse]

32. Joe Manchin III, now the most important senator in America. n/t

[Polybius]

34. Well, that didn't take very long

[LiberalLovinLug]

37. Meet the new LIE-berman of the party!

I was afraid of this. And it will all go to Manchin's head.

He is now the KingMaker of the Senate. And he will revel in it for the next four years. Squeezing out pork for his district. And will be assuring his Republican friends that he has their back. No "socialist" legislation will get past him.

[moose65]

83. He doesn't have a district

He’s a Senator. He has the entire state of West Virginia.

[LiberalLovinLug]

108. Forgive me I'm Canadian

I don't know of your foreign district ways.

[pnwmom]

39. Every one of them is going to be taking a public vote thanks to our majority.

And we might be surprised by one or two Republican Senators who decide a vote for the checks is in their interest.

Especially since Trump has already announced this 2,000 is vital, thereby conditioning his fan base.

Mitch McConnell has been able to control all the votes since we lost the majority, so his caucus has rarely been subjected to taking a vote that might make them unpopular with their constituents. That is about to change.

[stopwastingmymoney]

78. Yes, this nt

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

40. Who ever behind the scenes is managing the Democratic Party

I would like to see them appoint Stacy Abrams as the main organizer in every state/race we need to change. And we can get him out of there if need be.

[bucolic_frolic]

41. He's using GOP talking point of 'some people don't need checks'

so it's possible a workaround would be to target people with low cash flow - no wages, no unemployment, reduced income.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

44. It's already means tested.

That's a false narrative.

[Flaleftist]

42. I thought a few Republicans supported it.

That’s why McConnell wouldn’t allow a vote. Or was that just because it was before the election?

[truthisfreedom]

43. Dino.

[GentleAlien]

46. May be time to change tactics

I am thinking that may be it's time to confront Manchin's at his home turf, by directly reaching out to his voters Trump-style I am sure that public pressure is the only way to reassure this guy that he doesn't have much to lose by supporting this initiative..

[TimeToGo]

53. He'd just filp to the GOP

And we loose the majority again. No, the thing to do now is to work backstage. Then, if there is justice, we increase the majority in 2022. Then . . .

I realize he is up in 22 as well, so a primary opponent might help, but this is West Va, so we aren't likely to get anyone at all progressive.

Right now he does have power -- he does. No one here likes that, of course. And we don't have to like that. But it comes with a 50/50.

[jalan48]

49. Did Manchin's big donors say no?

[Marthe48]

50. manchin sucks as bad as his uncle

WV used to be blue, but guns.

They were moaning nd bitching about guns when Bill Clinton was running his first campaign. Nobody has a lost a gun. But WV turned red. And they are stuck with the likes of justice, manchin and barber.

[IronLionZion]

52. Because West Virginians don't need the money?

[oldsoftie]

55. Havent a few GOP Senators agreed with 2k checks? Do a STAND ALONE bill.

Quit lumping tons of BS in these bills like the last one.

[LudwigPastorius]

57. Joe Biden's a nice guy, but he really needs to channel his inner LBJ with Manchin.

[Ford_Prefect]

63. Yes!

[IronLionZion]

73. Have Kamala kick his ass

Joe can remain good cop if he wants and Kamala can be the bad cop whipping votes in the Senate.

[BlueIdaho]

60. Should have guessed it would be Manchin.

He’s cast a couple of crucial democratic votes but mostly he’s useless.

[TomDaisy]

61. Awww. Somebody thinks he's the new majority leader.

[rburns24]

64. With all due respect to Joe Manchin

The Dems should primary this guy and do it really hard!

[scarletwoman]

67. It's West Virginia. Dems would lose the seat.

[niyad]

68. Welcome to our DU family. Joe's use is that " D" after his name. Keep that in mind.

[samsingh]

65. this moron is the new lieberman. Are there any GOP Senators willing to go Independent and caucus

with us?

we only need 1 to not be at the mercy of these short sighted assholes

[FreepFryer]

66. We are gonna have a few possible new friends across the aisle to blunt Manchin's bad leverage.

[Escurumbele]

69. Munching makes one thing he is not really a Democrat

I have always thought he is an implant, he sides more with republicans than with democrats, people need to vote him out.

That is why the 50/50 split is not good, it is better than having McConnell as the majority leader, no doubt, but its people like Munching who will move the balance against Biden every time.

[sarcasmo]

70. The Joe Manchin dance begins.

[marble falls]

71. If the GOP wanted to stick it to Democrats, they'd all jump on the $2,000 bandwagon ...

... make us look like anti Joe Sixpack.

I understand Sen Manchin's position. You sure don't want his Republican replacement.

We'll be getting another check soon enough.

[SunSeeker]

74. WTF? Manchin has the poorest people in the country in his state!

They need these checks yesterday!


Has he fucking lost his mind?????

[Jon King]

75. He is irrelevant beause several swing state Repubs are up in 2022.

He won't matter. 2-3-4 swing state Republicans who are up for re-election in 2022 will vote with the Dems on many issues.

[marie999]

77. I don't think we need him for the stimulus. Some Republicans want this also.

[RussBLib]

79. we can work on him

anyone can come around

[stopwastingmymoney]

80. My idea is to start asap

Passing a series of short, one issue, easy to understand bills and force everyone to vote on them

Fun fun fun

[theaocp]

81. Take away any Senate perks he has within the party.

They won't, but they should. Hardball is hard. Smack some sense into this guy.

[Polybius]

101. No they shouldn't

We can't piss him off, if he switches sides we're literally screwed.

[theaocp]

102. Sorry, he doesn't rule the Senate. n/t

[Polybius]

107. Ok then enjoy Mitch as Majority Leader again

n/t

[Tarc]

86. I'm sure we could get Mitt or Collins aboard, it'll be fine.

[Rebl2]

87. Haven't even

gotten the second stimulus check deposited in my account yet. Last time I got it within a week. Still waiting for second one and nothing has changed regarding my checking account. I have read they have accidentally deposited checks in wrong accounts. Is this true?

[birdographer]

89. WV seems to have a problem

with those men they elect.

[PatrickforO]

90. You know, a guy like Manchin might be responsive to a massive letter writing, telephone calling

campaign.

I think we all resisted this last very dark four years by having our own representative and senators on speed dial. What say we continue in this vein?

Personally, I think it is a very good idea to regularly communicate with these members of Congress. I know my own Representative, Ken Buck, an odious far-right nut job if there ever was one, backed off on objecting to the electoral votes. He was going to go all the way on that.

Now, I cannot claim credit, except maybe very partial credit, but I called his Castle Rock office after he had affixed his signature to that resolution backing up the TX Attorney General's lawsuit challenging the PA electoral results because I was so incensed about it.

I had a wonderful hour-long talk with his staff member there about treason. Gosh, we went through a whole list of things Trump did that look like treason to me, including how his decision not to have a strong national response because it was hitting 'blue states' harder was essentially levying war against one or more states.

After that, we had a very productive discussion about how singular it is that a sitting US president could spend so many months whining about how the election was going to be rigged when what he should have been doing was working with Congress to ensure a free, fair and secure election.

It was a very nice call (for me, because I have fun - for him probably not so much).

And Buck did back off from the Sedition Caucus.

Plus, I found out you could actually communicate directly with some of the Senate and House Committees, and certainly you can use snail mail to send actual letters to any of them you want.

When they do something wrong, put it out in a letter to the editor of your newspaper, and/or various social media platforms.

We can turn this thing around by being strong, well informed, and assertive in the 'office of citizen.'

ON EDIT: I checked this - Buck voted Nay on the AZ objection, and did not vote on the PA one. So there you have it. Still odious. Still on the extreme right fringe. But he did the right thing here.

[Lulu KC]

91. Oh yeah that guy

Dang it.

[d_b]

93. We have to get rid of these worthless fucks

Tired of this fucking game in Washington.

[Firebrand Gary]

94. Maybe West Virginia should get the "McConnell Kentucky Treatment"

Give 20X the amount resources, new schools, bridges, hospitals and roads to West Virginia. They say that politics is the art of compromise-well, give them a powerful spotlight and the ability to address the deep, difficult challenges that they've had for many years.

[usajumpedtheshark]

97. Yet another Millionaire who doesn't want to help people in need

[pfitz59]

98. Just pay him off. Throw some bones to WV

Its a small state. Won't cost a lot. And will maybe keep him from defecting to the GOP. (And defecating all over any Progressive measure).

[Politicub]

110. I think this is the right approach

Pork for WV will end up being less than a rounding error in a multi-trillion dollar bill.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

99. So then get busy working out a compromise, guys!!! Theres nothing magic about the

number two thousand. It could be more, it could be less. Even another 600 would be welcome by people who need it. Dems arent republicans - they are never going to march in lockstep.
But I expect and h ope that they are able to work together and negotiate workable solutions to things.

[LisaM]

103. Well, let's woo Murkowski.

She's as liberal as he is, and is well used to the concept of government stimulus.

[Yeehah]

105. Wrong

Manchin voted for the ACA.

Murkowski voted against it.

Murkowski is NOT as liberal as Manchin. Manchin is walking a tightrope and he will help us out when he can. Murkowski has shown she has no liberal views and cannot be trusted.