Manchin Expresses Support for Budget Reconciliation While Pushing Leadership to Work With GOP

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) is throwing his support behind budget reconciliation while urging his colleagues to work with Republicans on another COVID-19 relief package.

“I will vote to move forward with the budget process because we must address the urgency of the COVID-19 crisis. But let me be clear – and these are words I shared with President Biden – our focus must be targeted on the COVID-19 crisis and Americans who have been most impacted by this pandemic,” Manchin said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added, “The President remains hopeful that we can have bipartisan support moving forward. I will only support proposals that will get us through and end the pain of this pandemic. For the sake of the country, we must work together with laser focus to defeat the COVID-19 crisis, support our neighbors and communities who continue to suffer and get back to a more normal life as quickly as possible.”

Despite a “productive” meeting at the White House on Monday with Republican senators, President Joe Biden is still not convinced their proposal is enough, as IJR reported.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden told the senators “that he will not slow down work on this urgent crisis response, and will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment.”

Psaki indicated Biden told the group he is prepared to pass his $1.9 trillion package using budget reconciliation.

She said he “reiterated that while he is hopeful that the Rescue Plan can pass with bipartisan support, a reconciliation package is a path to achieve that end.”

Others are warning against using budget reconciliation to pass the measure.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) accused Democrats on the Senate floor on Monday of trying to use budget reconciliation as a “back door method to eliminate the filibuster.”

He explained, “There are inherent and perhaps unintentional consequences of changing the rules of a place where your power is never permanently guaranteed.”

The budget reconciliation process only requires a simple majority in the Senate rather than 60 votes.