Manchin Doubles Down On Paid Family Leave Stance

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) doubled down on his stance against including paid family leave in the Democrats’ massive social spending reconciliation bill on Thursday, even as House leaders attempted to secure a vote on the bill.

Speaking to John Berman on CNN’s “New Day,” Manchin discussed his position.

Manchin said he doesn’t think paid family leave belongs in the bill, saying, “That’s a piece of legislation that really is needed from the standpoint: if we do it and do it right.”

He said a policy of paid family leave with participation between employers and workers should be completed, saying, “We can do that in a bipartisan way. We can make sure it’s lasting.”

He noted, “When you do something in reconciliation and you throw all the cost and all the debt toward our national debt and the taxpayers, usually [that’s going to] flip flop back and forth as soon as someone else takes over as the majority.”

“Let’s fix that,” he added.

Appearing on MSNBC on Thursday, Manchin also said, “I believe in family leave; I believe people should have that opportunity,” noting, “Can’t we find a better position for this and do this in a bipartisan and in a process that works?”

“I do not object to it at all as far as the concept of paid family leave,” Manchin said, per Newsweek.

“People should be able to have family leave as they need it, but also we should be paying into it from — same as we do social security, it’s employer/employee participation.”

“I am talking to my Republican colleagues and friends and my Democrats, we can work a piece of bill out in a regular process that doesn’t put a burden on taxpayers, that doesn’t put a burden and also more debt.”

“‘Cause when you start the programs, you never stop them, you just don’t,” he added.

As The Daily Wire reported, on Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) requested paid family and medical leave to be included in the hearing on the social spending package Democrats are attempting to pass.

Pelosi sent a letter to House Democratic colleagues, stating, “It had been my intention throughout this process to put on the House Floor and pass a bill that would pass the Senate in the same form. Because I have been informed by a Senator of opposition to a few of the priorities contained in our bill and because we must have legislation agreed to by the House and the Senate