Manchin Says Dems Should Negotiate With GOP On Debt Ceiling, Use Opportunity To Fix The Budget Process

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin He urged fellow Democrats to bargain with the Republican House major over the debt ceiling.

In consecutive appearances on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday Manchin called out members from his own party that refuse to negotiate w/ GOP leaders. Manchin claimed that the fight over the debt ceiling is an opportunity for us to correct the dysfunction surrounding the federal budget process.

“I think it’s a mistake,” Manchin said on CNN of the Biden administration’s refusal to negotiate. “This is a democracy that we have. We have a two-party system. And we should be able to talk and find out where our differences are. And if they are irreconcilable, then you have to move on from there and let the people make their decisions.”

Manchin also criticised Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Senate Majority Whip, who claimed that Biden should not negotiate.

“We just respectfully disagree,” Manchin spoke. “[E]very American has to live within a budget. If they don’t, they’re in trouble financially. Every business that is successful has to live within a budget. Every state has to live within a budget. Shouldn’t the federal government have some guardrails that say, ‘hey, guys, you’re getting over — you’re overreaching here and you’re overspending?’”

Manchin made a brief appearance on Meet the Press to point out that the budget process had been broken for all of his time in the Senate.

“I’ve been here 12 years,” He stated. “We haven’t had a budget yet.”

“There’s nothing that holds us accountable,” He went on. “Nothing at all. We can say, ‘oh, we’re gonna do it,’ but as I’ve said before, 12 years, we haven’t had a budget. That’s ridiculous.”

“The process isn’t working,” He went on. “How come we’re not held accountable to have the appropriations bills done at a certain time before the end of the fiscal year… you know what happens, it rolls over into an omnibus bill at the end, everything’s thrown into it and, ‘Okay here. We got it guys. Thats it.’ It makes no sense.”

Manchin stated that Congress couldn’t risk the financial stability of the dollar by raising the debt ceiling.

“With that being said, how do you get to it, how do you use this moment to get to responsibility?” Manchin pointed out that the interest payments on the debt are almost equal to the U.S. defense budget.