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July 19, 2022
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PRESENTED BY
MANCHIN ANGST
Senate Democrats seethe, but won’t dump Manchin
Despite widespread anger in the Senate Democratic caucus over Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) reconciliation stance, the West Virginian’s spot atop the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is safe. While some senators continue to seethe in public, Democrats grudgingly acknowledge they need Manchin to be the 50th vote to approve President Joe Biden’s nominees and other important legislation.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) surprised many last Friday when he publicly questioned why Manchin continued to serve as chair of Energy and Natural Resources and slammed Manchin’s “refusal to act” on climate change.
But when we caught up with Heinrich outside his office Monday, the New Mexico Democrat — a senior member of the committee that Manchin helms — said he hadn’t discussed ousting Manchin as chair with any of his colleagues.
“I just want to start a conversation,” Heinrich told us. Here’s more:
Heinrich was one of the few Democrats who publicly chastised Manchin following reports Thursday night that the West Viriginia Democrat would only vote for a narrow reconciliation package containing Medicare prescription drug language and Obamacare subsidy provisions. Many Senate Democrats were still upset with Manchin for sinking the Build Back Better Act in December, as well as his refusal to support elimination of the filibuster. Most, however, kept their frustration to themselves.
| → | Some Senate progressives, such as Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), were less than thrilled about the idea of trying to remove Manchin from his committee post. Hirono also serves on the Energy and Natural Resources panel. |
“To me, spending a lot of time trying to unseat Joe Manchin is time that I would rather see us spend trying to elect two more Democratic senators,” Hirono said.
However, most Democrats didn’t even want to engage on Manchin or what happened last week. They want to vote on a reconciliation package as soon as possible and declare victory.
“You know what? I’m done talking about my colleague from West Virginia,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said. “I am gonna be talking about the things we can get done, like CHIPS. You want to talk about something that will make a difference?”
| → | For his part, Manchin told reporters Monday he understood Heinrich’s frustration. |
— Max Cohen and John Bresnahan
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Presented by Wells Fargo
At Wells Fargo, we cover more rural markets than many large banks, and nearly 30% of our branches are in low- or moderate-income census tracts. What we say, we do. See how.