Mitch McConnell says he would WELCOME Manchin to the Republican party, claims he 'doesn't fit in' with the Democrats and was shocked at the 'vitriol' of the White House Build Back Better attack
Mitch McConnell said Monday Democrats 'don't want' Joe Manchin in their party and made it clear he is welcome in the GOP should he ever want to switch affiliations after intense backlash for opposing Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda.
'I don't know if Joe [Manchin] will ever become a Republican but I can tell you this for sure, the moderates are gone,' the Republican Senate minority leader told Fox News in an interview with The Guy Benson Show on Monday.
'There are two left in the Senate – two moderates out of 50,' McConnell said, referencing Manchin and Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona. 'There were more moderate Democrats when Barack Obama was president than there are today.'
The Kentucky senator told the radio host: '[I]t's a completely uncomfortable fit for Joe. I think he's probably, for example, the only pro-life Democrat of the 50.'
'He doesn't fit well over there but that's a decision, ultimately, he has to make. We'd certainly welcome him to join us if he was so inclined,' McConnell said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday the GOP would 'welcome' Joe Manchin if the centrist were to leave the Democratic Party
Manchin faced the ire of Democrats on Sunday after he said he would not vote to pass President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, which he has been negotiating with the White House over for months
In his own radio interview Monday, Manchin suggested Democrats would have to kick him out of the party when he was asked: 'Is there still a place for you in the Democratic Party?'
'[I] would like to hope that there's still Democrats that feel like I do [belong],' Manchin responded.
'I feel I'm socially – I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate,' the West Virginia centrist added. 'Now if there's no Democrats like that, then they have to push me wherever they want me.'
The backlash against Manchin ensued Sunday when he finally came out definitively against Biden's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better social spending and welfare package. He told Fox host Bret Bair on Fox News Sunday that he was a 'no'.
'I've always said this,' Manchin explained on the program, 'If I can't go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can't vote for it.'
'I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,' he insisted. 'I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there.'
Baier pushed: 'You're done. This is a no?'
'This is a no,' he confirmed.
Progressives were immediately outraged at Manchin's remarks and the White House lashed out at the senator at the center of BBB negotiations.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki lamented on Sunday: 'Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground.'
McConnell said he was 'shocked at the vitriol' in which the White House responded. Biden's Press Secretary Jen Psaki (left) released a statement Sunday suggesting Manchin lied during negotiations: 'Senator Manchin's comments this morning on FOX are at odds with his discussions this week with the President'
'If his comments on Fox and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position,' she added, 'and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator's colleagues in the House and Senate.'
Many claim she was calling Manchin a liar when writing in her statement: 'Senator Manchin's comments this morning on Fox are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances.'
'Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the President, at his home in Wilmington, to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced,' Psaki added. 'Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework 'in good faith.''
McConnell said Monday that he was shocked by the nastiness in which the administration responded to Manchin's opposition, claiming it is not the norm to get so 'angry about losing a vote.'
'Are you surprised at all by the White House reaction attacking Manchin pretty personally on his integrity, saying that he sort of went back on his word and perhaps this was a betrayal? In your experience, is that a successful persuasion tactic with someone like Manchin?' Benson asked McConnell.
'I tell you in the time I've been Republican Leader I never get angry about losing a vote because, you know, the most important vote is always the next vote,' he replied.
'So I was shocked at the vitriol and basically seemed to me that they were calling Senator Manchin a liar,' McConnell added. 'I think that was not smart.'
'This is a 50-50 Senate,' he explained. 'It's going to be 50-50 for another year. And believe me, that's not the way I would have handled it – disappointing both like this.'
Members of the Democratic Party on Sunday urged Schumer to still hold a vote on BBB with Senator Bernie Sanders saying it would force Manchin to 'vote no in front of the whole world.'
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday he will move forward with holding a vote in the new year on BBB to force Manchin to vote against it
Schumer sent a dear colleagues letter Monday morning saying a vote would still be held in the New Year, like he announced would happen on Friday.
A report claims the White House was informed of his reversal 30 minutes before Manchin went on air to kill the bill.
McConnell said he had 'not an inkling' that Manchin would come out against the legislation, but said he 'hoped' he would do so.
'Ironically, my wrap up press conference at the end of the session last Thursday, I said the single biggest favor Joe Manchin could do for the country is to kill this bill,' McConnell said. 'That's what the country needs to see this bill killed. It is absolutely inappropriate and unnecessary at a time when we're fighting inflation and we've already showered entirely too much money on the government, which helped create the inflation with that American rescue package earlier this year, which of course none of my members voted for.'
'So it was an exciting thing to hear,' he added. 'Great shot in the arm for the country. I think it's exactly what the country needed at this particular time.'
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