Tapper Presses Manchin Over Covid Relief: ‘Why Were You Fighting for Less Help for Citizens During This Cruel Economic Time?’

Senator Joe Manchin (D- WV) is appearing on a number of the big Sunday shows today following Senate passage of the covid relief legislation.

CNN’s Jake Tapper opened his interview by asking Manchin about the negotiations late last week over a change he was pushing for:

“Enhanced federal unemployment benefits now expire about a month earlier and there’s a new income cap for writing them off on your taxes, I have to say, you represent one of the lowest income states in the nation. Why were you fighting for less help for citizens during this cruel economic time?”

Manchin said he wanted to “target” where the help is needed, telling Tapper, “When we put the cap on, Chuck, we’ve never given — this is the first time we have ever allowed for tax deduction from unemployment benefits. Basically to be fair for the people out there working all the time, paying their share of taxes, that was something we were concerned about also. So we limited it to $150,000. We capped it that anybody over $150,000 could not use that offset. Anybody below it that’s struggling and working the middle class is able to do that. That was a fair compromise. We worked through that and got it done.”

Tapper — after briefly remarking “I’m Jake, I’m not Chuck” — asked Manchin how much pressure he was under from fellow Democrats and President Joe Biden.

Manchin said he’s been friends with the president and that “our conversations have always been cordial.”

“Working with all of my other friends back and forth, Jake, you know, sometimes can be challenging but the bottom line is that’s what it’s about, negotiations. I work with my Republican friends. I work with my Democrat caucus, my friends. We try to find that middle. Sometimes it gets a little frustrating at times, but the bottom line is at the end result we got one tremendous piece of legislation.”

You can watch above, via CNN.