‘The 50-50 Senate Sucks’: Democratic Senators Fume Over Manchin

Two Democratic senators and one House member fumed at Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) for stalling the party’s agenda.

Despite having majorities in both the House and Senate, President Joe Biden has been unable to advance many of his key legislative aims.

That is in large part thanks to Manchin, whose “aye” vote (along with Vice President Kamala Harris as a 50-50 tie-breaker) could move bills to Biden’s desk. Not a lot has been achieved since Manchin killed the Build Back Better bill last December.

He infuriated members of his own party again last week by throwing a monkeywrench in plans for climate change and energy legislation.

Politico reported:

Manchin, on Friday, said he could not support quick consideration of the administration’s climate and tax ambitions as part of a larger domestic spending bill. The president acquiesced to the demand. But White House aides and Democrats were left furious over what they deemed Manchin’s latest act of sabotage, blaming him for shifting the goalposts and blowing up key elements of an economic package months in the making.

Manchin has continently cited inflation has a driving force behind his hesitancy to get onboard with more spending.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) accused Manchin of “sabotaging” his party on Sunday.

“If you check the record, six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin — [Kyrsten] Sinema to a lesser degree — who are intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want,” Sanders told Martha Raddatz Sunday.

Sanders concluded Manchin is not “serious” when negotiating with his Democratic colleagues.

On Tuesday, CNN found two more Democratic senators willing to speak about Manchin on camera.

Manu Raju spoke to Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI). Both were willing to publicly criticize the Democrat from West Virginia.

“It’s not fair to string people along for a year and not come to a conclusion,” Heinrich said. “It’s not an appropriate way to negotiate.”

Hirono was more blunt, when she said, “The 50-50 Senate sucks, so that’s it.”

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) also shared some choice words for Manchin.

“It’s hard to think of someone who has been more effective at undermining a president of his own party than Senator Manchin,” Jones said.

Watch above, via CNN.