Sen. Joe Manchin joined with Republican Senators in blocking the Women’s Health Protection Act from moving forward.
Video of the vote:
46-48: The Senate vote to invoke cloture on Roe v Wade codification fails. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) only Dem to vote no.
As @sahilkapur noted, "It leaves Congress with no viable path to keeping abortion legal nationally if SCOTUS guts Roe." pic.twitter.com/jDbMRPbfjn
— The Recount (@therecount) March 1, 2022
Anyone who has been paying attention to the Senate is not surprised by Sen. Manchin’s vote. If Manchin voted for advancing the bill, he might as well kiss his Senate seat goodbye in West Virginia.
It is clear that Joe Manchin isn’t operating out of any yearning for the bipartisanship of yesteryear. What is driving Sen. Manchin is a simple, age-old desire to keep his seat. Senators acting to protect their incumbency is a behavior that goes back to when Senate seats shifted to being popularly elected.
No more time should be wasted on analyzing Joe Manchin’s motivations because his only motivation is keeping his Senate seat in deep-red West Virginia.
Manchin doesn’t care if women have no reproductive rights. His concern for the safety of the majority of the population if the Supreme Court guts Roe v. Wade is non-existent compared to his need to keep his Senate seat.
Democrats can end Joe Manchin driving the agenda and dictating the passage of legislation by electing more Democratic senators in November.
The people did not vote for a Joe Manchin presidency, and the people have the power to elect a Senate that will enact their will in November.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association