Sen. Manchin says he’s ‘totally out of sync’ with fellow Democrats
Sen. Manchin says he’s ‘totally out of sync’ with fellow Democrats
John Wagner 3 hrs ago
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), whose resistance to the scope of President Biden’s economic agenda has forced fellow Democrats to pare back their legislation, said Monday that he now considers himself “totally out of sync” with his party.
“I’m totally out of sync with 48 other Democrats,” Manchin said, referring to most other Democratic members of the Senate. “I love them all. And I love all the Republicans. So I’m just trying to survive in a very, very, very divided Congress in a very divided country.”
Manchin made his comments at a Monday night dinner with reporters. They were shared on Twitter by Josh Lederman of NBC News.
[Democrats haggle over Medicare, other spending priorities as Biden enters critical week] At an event Tuesday hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, Manchin suggested changing his party affiliation to Republican or independent wouldn’t affect who he is.
“Do you think by having a D or an I or an R is going to change who I am?” Manchin told David Rubenstein, the group’s chairman. “I don’t think the Rs would be anymore happier with me than the Ds are right now.”
Primarily because of objections raised by Manchin, Democrats are in the process of scaling back a $3.5 trillion social spending package to about half that size or less. As part of the process, Biden invited Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to breakfast Sunday at his Delaware home.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that Biden had been “encouraged” by the breakfast meeting.
“There was agreement on the need to move forward, agreement on the need to make these historic investments in child care and elder care and expanding access to health care,” she said. “And there are important discussions now about exactly how to do that. That’s where the stage we’re at right now.”
Manchin has objected to several provisions favored by other Democrats, such as the expansion of Medicare to include dental, vision and hearing benefits, in addition to the overall size of the package. Manchin reiterated his opposition to that proposal Monday and a related effort to try to expand Medicaid coverage, even as he told reporters that he thinks Democrats can finalize the broad contours of the spending package this week.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ats/ar-AAPYnCA
