Sens. Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin at former President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on February 4, 2020.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images
- Mitch McConnell is urging Joe Manchin to switch parties and become a Republican.
- “He is clearly not welcome on that side of the aisle,” McConnell told The New York Times.
- McConnell highlighted a White House statement that blasted Manchin for opposing Build Back Better.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling on West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to switch parties after the White House issued a blistering statement about his declared opposition to the Democrats’ climate and social spending bill.
“Why in the world would they want to call him a liar and try to hotbox him and embarrass him?” McConnell told The New York Times in a recent interview. “I think the message is, ‘We don’t want you around.’ Obviously that is up to Joe Manchin, but he is clearly not welcome on that side of the aisle.”
If Manchin were to begin caucusing with Republicans, he would tip the Senate’s current 50-50 balance towards the GOP, likely prompting the re-ascension of McConnell to the position of Senate Majority Leader.
The White House issued a lengthy missive slamming Manchin after the West Virginia Democrat announced on Fox News Sunday that he was opposed to the Democrats’ $2.2 trillion Build Back Better Act.
“Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in the statement. “If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”
Manchin, for his part, seemed unbothered by the statement. On Monday, he told West Virginia radio host Poppy Kercheval that the White House “retaliated” for his opposition but that he “figured they would come back strong.”
“They figured, surely to God, we can move one person, surely we can badger and beat one person, that’s — surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough,” Manchin said, referring to the waves of protest that he’s encountered from progressive activists in recent months.
“Well, guess what? I’m from West Virginia,” he said. “I’m not from where they’re from, and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive. Period.”
Manchin reportedly joined an emergency caucus call with Senate Democrats on Tuesday night, despite McConnell’s ongoing entreaties.
“Obviously we would love to have him on our team,” McConnell told The Times. “I think he’d be more comfortable.”
But Democrats are signaling that they’d like to continue working with Manchin. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal told The Washington Post on Tuesday that she’d spoke with Manchin, and was prepared to work with him to produce some version of the bill.
That echoed the sentiment of the White House’s Sunday statement, which McConnell said was an impugnment of Manchin’s integrity.
“Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word,” Psaki said in the statement. “In the meantime, Senator Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that, instead of $35 for that vital medicine.”
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