Joe Manchin: ‘Biden’s Advisers Have Led Him Wrong’ on ‘Strictly Partisan Direction’

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said Friday that President Joe Biden’s “advisers have led him wrong,” criticizing the Biden Administration for not working in a bipartisan manner for the good of the American people.

Manchin’s remarks, which became public through a paywall-controlled article Friday, came from an interview with Politico.

“Biden’s advisers have led him wrong to start out in a strictly partisan direction,” Manchin said. “We should have found something that we could have voted on bipartisan first and then gone down this lane when we hit a roadblock, and they didn’t do that.”

“If we go off the rails and there’s no bipartisan [work], you ain’t coming back for two years,” Manchin added, remaining optimistic that a bipartisan deal between Republicans and Democrats can be reached. “We can get a trillion-dollar, bipartisan deal tonight.”

Manchin, who considered himself “the most bipartisan person in the Senate,” stated earlier this month that he would “not vote for a coronavirus relief package on a party-line vote.”

Despite no support from Republicans, Manchin voted in favor of a Democrat-driven budget resolution toward the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which led to a tie in the Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris, the deciding vote, also voted in favor of the relief package. The bill now goes to the House where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the majority of House Democrats are expected to pass it and send it to the markup process.