MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia County Democratic Executive Committee on Monday evening unanimously endorsed a statement urging Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., to support President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act.
In the statement the committee says, “We deplore Sen. Manchin’s efforts to obstruct and whittle down President Biden’s signature legislation. His actions thus far have only served to appease his corporate benefactors and harm constituents who have actually voted for him in the past.”
The committee also voices support ending the filibuster and for passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
County Executive Committee chair Shane Assadzandi told The Dominion Post Tuesday that they called an emergency meeting to discuss the issue.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “Sen. Manchin has really been obstructing very positive legislation that is attempting to come out of this presidential administration. … It’s one thing to be an independent voice and negotiate for concessions, but now every time they give him a concession he asks for something different.”
Assadzandi mentioned Manchin’s position on the child tax credit: Manchin wants a work requirement and an income limit of $60,000; the current limit is $150,000 for a couple, $112,500 for a single parent.
This was the first action the committee has taken, Assadzandi said, but more may follow. All options are on the table, including a no-confidence vote.
On the filibuster, Assadzandi responded to the often-expressed opinion that it encourages bipartisanship and helps smaller states.
He disagrees, he said. “The filibuster is preventing both parties from passing any meaningful legislation beyond naming a post office. … In a certain sense, the filibuster actually prevents bipartisanship because it really incentivizes the minority party to just block every single thing the majority party brings up.”
Assadzandi’s parting thought was, “We really hope Sen. Manchin does the right thing.” Mon County had his back when he won reelection in 2018 by a narrow margin of 49.57% to challenger Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s 46.26% — 19,397 votes out of 586,034 cast.
“If he wants the people of the state to have his back in the future,” Assadzandi said, “then he needs to do the right thing now and pass legislation that will improve the quality of their lives.”
Manchin’s office declined comment on the statement.
Here is the statement in full:
The Monongalia County Democratic Executive Committee fully supports Senator Joe Manchin III’s Freedom to Vote Act and any changes to the filibuster necessary to pass this and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation integral to protecting the rights of all citizens to vote. Democracy itself is at risk without these two bills.
We also support President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act. We support transformational investments for children and families, seniors, and saving the planet, which will benefit all of us. Specifically, we support investments for:
- expansion of Medicare to include dental, vision and hearing care for seniors;
- giving Medicare authority to negotiate lower drug prices;
- universal pre-kindergarten;
- investments in childcare, home- and community-based care;
- extension of child tax credits;
- paid family leave;
- and definitively addressing climate change.
We deplore Senator Manchin’s efforts to obstruct and whittle down President Biden’s signature legislation. His actions thus far have only served to appease his corporate benefactors and harm constituents who have actually voted for him in the past.
Senator Manchin has told West Virginians that we do not have another Democrat who can be elected statewide, and that he is free to do as he pleases. Whether this is true or not, it is absolutely true that he is not helping West Virginians. His attitude and actions are reprehensible.
Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in our great state need to have their voting rights protected and will benefit from Build Back Better in its transformational whole. The Monongalia County Democratic Executive Committee urges Senator Manchin to pass these bills by any means necessary.
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