Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) took a victory lap on Sunday on the heels of his surprise deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week, explaining just why he agreed to it: he was tired of getting yelled at.
āI didnāt want to go through the drama that eight months ago... we went through for so long,ā Manchin told Chuck Todd on Meet The Press, one of five Sunday TV appearances he made on his explanation-turned-adulation tour. Manchin was referring to his public tanking of Build Back Better, President Joe Bidenās once-marquee domestic bill.
It was that tanking that made Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, wary of working with Manchin again. āHere we go again,ā Manchin recalled Schumer saying when, at one point in negotiations, Manchin said he brought up waiting for Julyās inflation numbers.
It was also partly why he didnāt include Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) in the talks, he said. Sinema said after the deal came out that she would review the bill, but she has not yet released any public statement of support.
āI didnāt want to bring anybody into the fold that said, āThis thing might fall apart. Hereās [Manchin]. Heās going down the road again and weāre not getting there,āā Manchin told Fox News Sunday. āāI couldnāt get there. I didnāt know we were going to get there until it came to fruition.ā
Even still, Democrats have balked at Manchinās close relationship with Schumer. Sen. Bernie Sanders derided the secrecy of the deal, according to ABCās Jonathan Karl, sarcastically saying he wasnāt aware Manchin was the majority leader.
āI understand the frustration and the reason for that,ā Manchin told Karl on This Week. āI didnāt know if we could get a deal, I didnāt know if we could come to an agreement. Why would I put people through... all this drama? Iāve been through this for eight monthsāI tried, I kept trying. I couldnāt get to where they wanted to go to in my caucus.ā
But still, Manchin said he thinks that all that posturingāand public condemnations from the partyās progressive wing, who have only mildly come around to the slimmed-down domestic packageāhas finally produced a good result, and one with the presidentās backing.
āI donāt look at it as politics,ā Manchin said on State of the Union. āI donāt look at it as a democratic responsibility because I have a āDā by my name, and I donāt look at my Republican colleagues as enemies. Those are my friends. Weāre all Americansācanāt we put our country first? Thatās what Iāve always said. Iām not going to make deals and negotiations, and Iām not going to vote because it helps one party over the other party or good for the next election. This is good for America. This is what this is all about, and thatās what I care about.ā