Sen. Joe Manchin (W-VA) told Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe that he will not attend a meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss how to save Obamacare:
“No, I’m not. I just can’t, in good conscience, I can’t do it,” he said. “If anyone listened and paid attention to what the American people said when they voted, they want this place to work.”“With all of the respect of all of these people involved, but we had the outgoing president coming up here to talk to only Democrats, we have the incoming vice president coming up to talk only to Republicans. Joe, that’s not what makes this place work and that’s really what is wrong with the place,” he argued.
Manchin has admitted in the past that “Obamacare is ‘not perfect,'” but does not want to go along with the Republicans by throwing it out completely:
“I’m willing to look at replacing, repairing, doing anything that we can to make it better but put something on the table. I just can’t believe the Republicans will go down this path and just throw it out and say trust us, in two or three years, we will fix it,” he said. “I’ve been here six years. We haven’t fixed very many things. And anyone has trust and belief that we will fix, they’re living in fantasy land.”
After President-elect Donald Trump won in November and the GOP maintained control of Congress, many vulnerable Democrats decided to eat crow and show some eagerness to work with the new administration, including Manchin. He warned the Democrats “it would be folly for his party to immediately announce opposition to Trump’s proposals while Democrats were still licking their wounds.” From Politico:
As they came to terms with the likelihood of a Republican-controlled Congress and White House for the next four years, Democrats floated infrastructure and trade as potential areas of collaboration. Conservative Democrats like Manchin might find common ground with Republicans on energy policy. And perhaps, [Rep. Gerry] Connolly suggested, there could be compromise on social issues.The talk of possible cooperation came as Republicans spoke of repealing Obamacare and overhauling the tax code through reconciliation, an arcane process that allows the GOP’s narrow Senate majority to evade the supermajority requirement.
Obama told the “Democrats not to ‘rescue’ Republicans by helping them pass replacement measures” and call whatever they propose “Trumpcare.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY