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Sen. Manchin Distances Himself Further From His Party: I Won't Vote for These Items

Beth Baumann
Beth Baumann  |  November 09, 2020 10:00 PM

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) on Monday vowed to vote down a number of policies progressives have pushed for, the most recent one being packing the Supreme Court. According to Manchin, Americans don't need to worry about Democrats moving to expand the court should both Georgia Senate seats go blue. He said he would not vote alongside Democrats going along with the agenda.

"There's a lot of people are concerned. There's a lot of fear tactics are being used right now, Bret. If both of the Georgia senators were elected from the Democratic Party, then that would be 50-50 if both Dan Sullivan and Thom Tillis win. 50-50 means there's a tie but if one senator does not vote on the Democratic side, there is no tie and there is no bill," he explained to Fox News' Bret Baier. "So I can commit to you here tonight, and I can commit to all of your viewers and everyone else that's watching, I wanna lay those fears. I wanna rest those fears for you right now because when they talk about whether it be packing the courts or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that. I will not vote to pack the courts. I will not vote to end the filibuster."

According to the West Virginia senator, the Senate is a unique body because of its rules and regulations that were established so there's bipartisan agreement. 

Manchin said he wanted to "lay those fears to rest" and let Americans know that he "will not be the 50th Democrat voting to end that filibuster or to basically stack the court."

He also slammed the progressive movement to "defund the police," which he says is rather unpopular, even amongst his colleagues. 

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"I don't know of any of the Democrats in the caucus that are for defunding the police," he said. "We're not for that whatsoever. And when they talk about Medicare for All, we can't even pay for Medicare for some. Doesn't make any sense at all."

Manchin explained that the Affordable Care Act needs to be "repaired" and he believes that could happen with moderate Republicans.