“January 6 changed me. I never thought in my life; I never read in history books where our form of government was attacked, at our seat of government, Washington, DC, at our Capitol, by our own people,” Manchin said. and added, “So, something said to me, ‘Wait a minute. Pause. Press the peacock button.’ “Something is wrong. You can not divide so many people into where they want to go to war with each other.”
The senator in West Virginia has an extraordinary influence in a chamber where the Democrats have the smallest possible majority under a 50-50 party division. Manchin says he wants to use the force wisely.
“I looked at people who had power and abused it,” he said. “I looked at people who sought power and destroyed themselves, and I looked at people who have a moment to make a difference and change things and use them – I want to be the third.”
“Reconciliation was never meant to be our main focus or our main means of legislation. It is not legislation. It must be used from time to time. I understand that,” Manchin said. But he added: “There is a time and a place.”
Manchin also stood with his opposition to changing Senate rules to eliminate the 60-vote threshold that needs to be cleared to pass most legislation so Democrats can push through more bills on a party line. ‘I’m not killing the filibuster. I was very, very clear, ‘he said.
As it currently stands, Democrats will need to get ten Republicans to support an infrastructure bill to pass it through the so-called ordinary order. But it is not clear that any of them would come on board. Not one Republican has voted for the Covid relief bill, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said Biden’s infrastructure bill is far too large to pass as proposed. Manchin has repeatedly insisted he is convinced the Republicans will come to ‘yes’, and that more discussions are needed.
Asked if he believes Republican lawmakers are willing to lift the tax rate, Manchin said: “We’ll have to see it,” adding, “There are so many things going on with the tax code … can we do not close some of the loopholes? ‘
Manchin praises Biden’s firearms actions
Asked if there were any negotiations on the House legislation, Manchin said: ‘We have not received a bill yet, no, we have not. I’m happy to work with them, sit down and we just call it common sense. . “
Manchin calls the ATF nominee ‘well qualified’
Manchin offered songs of praise for Biden’s choice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, calling the nominee ‘well qualified’. Biden announced Thursday that he has nominated David Chipman, a gun control lawyer, to lead the bureau, which has not had a permanent director since 2015. Asked if he would support the nomination, Manchin said: ‘Everything I know is well qualified and I have no reason why I would not want to, but I do not know enough yet. He was just nominated today. We’ll look into it, but I’ve always been very valuable about the president putting his team together. ‘
Manchin describes a good relationship with Biden and Harris
Manchin said he has an open line with the White House and has a good relationship with Biden.
“They talked very, very kindly. We talk; we have communication as often as I want and as often as they want.” Van Biden specifically said: “Whenever he calls me, he calls and then we have a good conversation. We have had a good friendship and relationship for a long time. We understand each other.”
Manchin downplayed the situation and said when asked about it: “Things were moving very fast. They just got into it. Kamala and I were already friends, OK? We sat together and had a good relationship … and do and the vice president and president are invited, no matter who they may be, to the state of West Virginia, and I’ll be there to meet them. Only things happened fast and I did not know, I “I just did not know. It was nobody’s fault.”
Manchin wants to meet with Warnock and Ossoff over voting rights
Asked what changes he wants to see to the Senate’s For the People Act, Manchin said he wants to discuss the issue with Georgia Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a Democrat in South Carolina. . “I want to meet my friends Raphael Warnock. I want to meet Jon Ossoff. I want to meet Jim Clyburn.” He added: “We’re going to get together, we will. We talked. We all talked,” and added, “We’re going to bring Republicans and Democrats to sit down.”
This story was updated on Thursday with additional developments