Pot Meet Kettle: Manchin Decries "Hostile" Work Environment

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:41 pm

During an appearance on CNN, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) decried a “hostile” work environment in Congress which he says is rife with partisanship.

“You want to know what’s wrong with the place? I go to work in a hostile working environment every day. If you’re a Democrat, and a Republican is up for election, you’re supposed to be against that person,” Manchin told host John Berman on “New Day.”

“If Donald Duck’s running against that person, you’re supposed to get money from your PAC to help the other person beat the person that you’ve been working with. And even sometimes they’ll say, ‘can you come campaign against so and so?’ And then we come back on Monday, and here’s a person that we’ve given money against,” he added.

Manchin went on to criticize his colleagues for not reaching across the political aisle.

“In today’s divided country, in divided government that we have, in divided politics that we have, you have to work a little bit harder. How many people did you see on the floor working and talking to both sides? How many times do you see that, John? Look out. Ask them how many times they’ve had coffee with each other. Ask them how many of them know each other’s wives or children or what their pleasures are, as far as sports or recreation?” Manchin said.

"You want to know what's wrong with the place? I go to work in a hostile working environment every day."@Sen_JoeManchin discusses his hopes for bipartisanship in Congress.https://t.co/9zINPfILOv pic.twitter.com/PVSVBM9w3j

— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) November 4, 2021

President Joe Biden has met with Manchin and Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema several times to hear their concerns, meetings that no doubt contributed to the plan’s being slashed considerably.

Both Sinema and Manchin have balked at the size of the plan and their meetings with Biden came as Democratic strategists advised the President to take a more active role in talks about the legislation.

Yesterday, House Democrats announced they had put paid family leave back into their spending bill.

The paid family leave provision is popular but nearly tanked the bill after Manchin voiced his opposition.