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Joe Manchin is still searching for nine 'reasonable' Senate Republicans [1]

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Date: 2023-02-06  

Democrats are, of course, perennially willing to work with Republicans—usually too much so—but thanks to Republican intransigence, most of the most significant accomplishments of the past two years were passed through the reconciliation process, which allows bills to pass the Senate with a simple majority. That includes Manchin’s signature Inflation Reduction Act. By contrast, Collins not only can’t assemble Republican votes for most bipartisan efforts, she herself almost never votes against her party leadership in a meaningful way. Her “moderate” stance is a scam.

Manchin, on the other hand, seems to be a true believer in the face of all the evidence. Check this out:

“The center is still going to be where people are going to have to gather around in order to get anything done,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Sunday. If Senate Democrats “can’t find basically nine centrist moderate, reasonable Republicans who want to accomplish something in the next Congress here … then it will be just basically a stalemate,” he added.

Joe, Joe, Joe. It is true that over the past two years, Senate Republicans provided enough votes to break the filibuster on a few key things, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Respect for Marriage Act. But 1) the number of times that actually happened is tiny compared with the number of times Manchin earnestly proclaimed that surely this time nine or 10 Republicans were going to be reasonable and vote to accomplish something.

And 2) more importantly, in the year 2023, THE HOUSE.

Your problem, Joe, is not finding nine Republicans in the Senate. Your problem is the House being effectively controlled by the Marjorie Taylor Greene wing of the Republican Party. Kevin McCarthy is not leading anyone over there. He is being led around by the whims of people who cannot be reasoned with.

If Joe Manchin wants to spend the next two years earnestly trying to reach deals with Republicans and having them viciously rejected by House Republicans, that’s actually kind of helpful in highlighting how extreme House Republicans are. Go for it, Joe. It’s just hilarious to watch him continue to pretend that those reasonable Republicans exist in enough numbers to have any influence on their party. Yes, Joe, it will be just basically a stalemate for most of the next two years. Welcome to reality.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/6/2151357/-Manchin-and-Collins-are-still-touting-bipartisanship-but-the-House-GOP-is-ready-to-burn-it-all-down

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