WATCH: ABC’s Jon Karl Presses Joe Manchin on Drawing Red Lines With Republicans

Last updated on June 29th, 2021 at 03:17 pm

Joe Biden seemingly has everything he needs to pass his policy goals over the next two years. Democrats control congress, the senate and the White House. West Virginia‘s Joe Manchin, though, has been committed to passing things in a bi-partisan manner.

Manchin, of course, has been heavily criticized for his stance, but to this point has stayed committed. During a Sunday interview, ABC’s Jon Karl asked the lawmaker why he hasn’t drawn a “red line” with Republicans.

The This Week host asked, “you get hammered all the time by fellow Democrats, especially progressives who say you are constantly drawing red lines for what you’ll support, and creating limits on how far Democrats will be able to go.”

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Karl continued, “What do you say to those who say why don’t you draw red lines with Republicans? Why don’t you draw a red line and say ‘look, if you guys don’t move on this, I’m going to go and endorse doing away with the filibuster?'”

Manchin responded, “I’ve not voted any differently than I’ve voted for ten years. I’ve always been very moderate, very centrist. I want to find that middle and I think there’s always a middle to find… If they think I’m going to change and be something I’m not, I won’t.”

The West Virginia senator isn’t wrong about his voting history, it’s just that the stakes are bigger. Republicans were more than happy to throw their weight around while in power. Thus far, Manchin has kept Democrats from doing the same.

Todd Neikirk

Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.