Democratic Senator Joe Manchin had an uncomfortable confrontation with protesters from the deck of his yacht this week as his party was forced to delay votes on two infrastructure bills because he opposed parts of the bill.
From his $250,000 boat called “Almost Heaven” on the Potomac River in Washington, DC, the West Virginia centrist explained why he opposes a key part of the bill pushed by progressives – expanding Medicare to include dental, vision and hearing aids.
“We’ll get to that eventually, but right now we can’t even deal with it … it’s going to go bust in 2026,” he said of the Medicare trust fund. “Let’s fix that first.”
Mr Manchin’s words were booed by activists who had reached the senator in a small fleet of kayaks to urge him to support various aspects of the reconciliation bill.
Democrats hope to pass the bill on a caucus-level basis and enact it through a budget measure to avoid expected unified Republican opposition.
“This is our only chance to get this bill passed right now,” one protester told the senator, pointing out that many forecasts predict Republicans will gain control of at least one chamber of Congress next year.
The Independent has contacted Mr Manchin’s office to inquire whether the image of him aboard an expensive houseboat is consistent with his demand that Democrats cut about $2 trillion worth of programs from the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package.
Mr Manchin opposes expanding Medicare. He told protesters that unless Congress takes action to raise revenue or cut spending, health insurance costs will not be fully covered by 2026.
Democrats had pushed back the deadline for passing their two infrastructure bills to Oct. 31 on Saturday after both Manchin and Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema indicated they both opposed the reconciliation bill in its current size. Dozens of House Democrats threatened to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure compromise bill if the Senate did not pass the $3.5 trillion package first and send it to the House.
Progressive politicians have been furious in recent days with the two conservative members of their party’s Senate caucus and their opposition to the $3.5 trillion bill, publicly announcing that they would seek and fund challengers to the two in the primaries, even though Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin are not running for re-election until 2024.
