Joe Manchin, Democrat

Democrats – moderates and Progressive alike – have been cursing the evil heart of Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia for not giving them what they want, a YES vote on H.R 5376, the Build Back Better Act.  

But Democrats ought to be kissing the back of Joe Manchin’s right hand for being a Democrat.  Senate Democrats, rank and file Democrats and especially President Joe Biden ought to be embracing him for partying with Democrats.

Why?

West Virginia has three Congress persons, all of them are Republicans.  West Virginia has a Republican governor, elected in 2020 by a more than two to one margin.  West Virginia’s state legislature consists of a Senate (23 Republicans and 11 Democrats) and a House of Delegates (77! Republicans and 22 Democrats).  And West Virginia gave President Trump 68.6% of the vote to Biden’s 29.7%, second only to Wyoming in their adoration of #45.  And then there is Joe Manchin, a Democrat who defeated his Republican opponent in 2020 by three percentage points.  West Virginia’s other senator is a Republican, of course.

But Senator Manchin caucuses as a Democrat.  When pushed to reply to questions about his changing his party affiliation, he always says he would register as an Independent (NOT a Republican), and that he would still caucus with the Democrats.

How about his voting record?  Doesn’t he vote more often as a Republican than as a Democrat?  Admittedly, he does vote more often with the enemy than his Democratic colleagues.  Nevertheless,

• According to Projects Five Thirty Eight, in the 117th Congress (2021-2022), Manchin has voted with President Biden 97.4% of the time.
• According to AP Fact Check, Manchin has sided with Biden 62% of the time or 100% of the time (the article is a little confusing).
• Senator Manchin has voted against a majority of Senate Democrats 39 times (7.7%) in the 117th Congress (2021-22).
• Senator Manchin voted against a majority of Senate Democrats 174 times (24.8%) in the 116th Congress (2019-20).
• Senator Manchin voted against a majority of Senate Democrats 153 times (25.8%) in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
• Senator Manchin voted against a majority of Senate Democrats 134 times (27.2%) in the 114th Congress (2015-16).
• Senator Manchin voted against a majority of Senate Democrats 91 times (14.1%) in the 113th Congress (2013-14).
• Senator Manchin voted against a majority of Senate Democrats 77 times (15.9%) in the 112th Congress (2011-12).
• Senator Manchin voted against a majority of Senate Democrats 6 times (13.0%) in the 111th Congress (2009-10).
• For those of you who enjoy ambiguity, or just plain confusion, here is what his own Senate web pages say about his voting record.

So, yes, Senator Manchin has voted party-line much less often than nearly all his Democratic colleagues.  But he represents West Virginia, fgodsake, one of the most Republican (and Trump-loving) states in the Union.

But I did not embark on writing this piece just to set the record straight on Senator Manchin.  The Build Back Better Act is a classic example of Congressional over-reach, of dumping every damn thing that many/most Democrats want into one piece of legislation.  The bill consists of provisions about clean energy and climate change, childcare and preschool, child tax and earned income tax credits, home care, housing, Affordable Care Act, higher education and Medicare, among other things.  All admirable ways to spend taxpayer money, I am sure.  But the more provisions that are written into a bill before Congress, the more likely it is to over-reach, as there are sure to be one or two measures that some Congress persons would find distasteful.  Most Democrats were prepared to go along to get along (“my party wants these things, so I will park my objections; anyway, I approve of most of what is in the bill”).  If Senate Democrats were honest, more of them would have had objections to some provisions of this omnibus bill, and they would have joined Senator Manchin saying “NO.”

The omnibus nature of the Build Better Act was an “I dare you” to Senator Manchin.  They knew that he had objections all along.  Pushing a bill that you know will fail is playing politics.   Not always, as some legislation is really a case of doing the right thing (e.g., Civil Rights legislation).  But it can backfire.  And backfire it did.

Pork barrel legislating (“I’ll give you this if you give me that”) has its merits; sometimes, it is the only way that anything ever gets done.  But often it is just over-reach.

I have written before about this Congressional practice.  Omnibus bills that are crafted like a Cobb Salad are nearly always a challenge to lawmakers.  Bills like this are Poison Pill bills.  And it is about time that Congress persons reacted properly, by doing a Joe Manchin and saying instead, “let’s negotiate.”

Apparently, the Build Back Better Act is not dead.  It seems that President Biden and Senate Democrats will meet with Senator Manchin come January to craft a cleaner bill, one that they all can embrace.  Will critical legislation be left on the cutting room floor?  Yes.  OK, then, craft legislation that will tackle THOSE issues, one at a time, and let them be voted up and down.  If a clean bill that addresses climate change fails, it is up to the people to deliver; the turkeys in Congress were put there by the turkeys at home.

Will working democracies always answer the biggest questions right?  I fear NOT.

P.S., if I were a Democrat, I would want to be Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York’s 14th District (lucky bastards!).  NOT because of her stands on issues.  Rather, because a) she knows what she stands for, b) she knows how to message what she stands for, and c) she FIGHTS.  I can’t imagine any other Democrat whom I would feel more comfortable – nay, excited – taking the floor debating former president #45, knuckles bared.  Thus far, she has led the charge against Senator Manchin.  Now it is time for her to lead the charge to sit down with him and come to a sensible conclusion.   If she can’t do it, no one can.

P.P.S.    I nearly forgot.  The bill has ways to pay for all these provisions built into it.  Scatter-shot ways like the rest of the bill.  But it doesn't mention a Wealth Tax.  Until we honestly deal with our bad habit of printing money to dig ourselves out of our deeper and deeper holes, we are kidding ourselves.

Addendum: Friday, 12/09/2022

Kyrsten Sinema is Arizona's own Joe Manchin, by which I mean a Democratic senator who votes with Republicans often enough to make her fellow Democrats squeamish.  Today, she announced that she is in process of changing her party designation to Independent.  On the heels of the Warnock victory in Georgia which made the Senate 51D-49R!  Now it will be 50D-1I-49R.  Yes, there are two other independents – Bernie Sanders and Angus King – but they regularly canvas with the Democrats.  Sinema has said only that she will remain in her committee positions, but has not spoken to which party she will caucus with.  So, easy come, easy go (for the Democrats' clean Senate majority).

But Sinema is up for re-election in 2024.  Should she run as an Independent, and the Democrats field their own candidate, the likely outcome will be a Republican senator, as she will probably siphon off more Democratic voters than Republican voters.  OTOH, if she wants to maintain her seat, she should lobby to get Arizona to change their voting methodology from Winner-Take-All to Ranked-Choice-Voting.  She would have a good chance to win that race.

But, here is the kicker, my friends.  Kyrsten Sinema is not very popular (see page 5, bottom) with Arizonans, any Arizonans.  And Sinema may just be fishing for ways to stay relevant.

Stay tuned.