U.S. Senator Manchin denies media report he could leave Democrats
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[October 21, 2021]
By David Morgan and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Senator Joe Manchin,
a centrist who has stood as a stumbling block to President Joe Biden's
agenda, denied a news report on Wednesday that he might leave the
Democratic Party if his colleagues do not scale back a sweeping domestic
spending bill.
Manchin told reporters that an article in Mother Jones that he might
leave the party and become an independent was "bullshit." He added that
he had "no controls over rumors."
The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice
President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, meaning a
defection by Manchin could potentially hand control of the chamber to
Republicans.
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Manchin has been at odds with many of his fellow Democrats over key
aspects of Biden's agenda, from voting rights to climate change. He has
insisted that the party must substantially scale back a social spending
bill, initially estimated to cost $3.5 trillion.
Top Democrats said this week the program would be cut back sharply, to
closer to $2 trillion.
Manchin represents West Virginia, a rural, conservative state that has
largely backed Republican politicians in recent years. Biden lost the
state to Republican Donald Trump by 39 percentage points in the 2020
presidential election.
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![](../images/102121PIX/news_p31.jpg)
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) walks through a hallway as reporters
ask questions following the Senate Democrats weekly policy lunch at
the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., October 19, 2021.
REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
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A former governor, Manchin narrowly won re-election
in 2018. He next faces voters in 2024.
The Mother Jones report said Manchin would first resign from his
Democratic leadership post in the Senate, and then register as an
independent if that move did not persuade Democrats to scale back
the spending bill further.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; writing by Andy
Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Rosalba O'Brien and Peter Cooney)
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