In Criticism of Sens. Manchinema (and Their 50 Republican Colleagues)

This blog article was supposed to be about hope—at least that was my plan for this post. But the hopes of so many USAmericans are at the point of being betrayed by two Democratic Senators and by all 50 Republican Senators, and one of the hopes for Pres. Biden that I wrote about on January 20 seems to have been completely dashed.

The Dashed Hopes for the Biden Presidency

One of the hopes for the Biden Presidency that I included in that Jan. 20 blog post was this: “Restoring political bipartisanship to the Capitol.” But rather than political bipartisanship being restored, if anything, it has even worsened during these nine months Biden has been in the White House.

Another hope I had for the current administration was concerted effort to combat the problem of global warming. That hope has perhaps not been completely dashed, but right now it looks as if there will be far less done in that regard than so many of us hoped for.

The dashed hope for bipartisanship seems almost entirely because of the intransigence of the Republicans, and especially the 50 Republican Senators under the leadership of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But the hope for significant action in combatting climate change has largely been dashed by Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Right now, the only bipartisanship that seems operative is that which is killing the Biden agenda, as captured in the following political cartoon by Bob Englehart way back on June 9. 

Criticism of Sens. Manchinema

In the U.S. Senate, 48 of the 50 Democratic Senators have been solidly in support of the President and his agenda. But with no Republican votes on most matters, it takes all 50 Democrats (plus Vice President Harris’s tie-breaking vote) to pass bills that can’t be filibustered.

Senators Manchin and Sinema have been so united in their opposition to especially the costly Build Back Better (BBB) legislation that their names have sometimes been conflated to Manchinema (check out #Manchinema).

Sens. Manchinemas’ main criticism of the BBB bill has been the price tag: they have been unwilling to approve little more than half of what the other 48 Democrats have been willing to support. And, sadly, at this point it seems that the major proposed cut is money to combat global warming.

I find it deplorable that just two Senators can wield so much power on such a critical issue. The long-term future of the country, and perhaps the world, is being jeopardized to a greater or lesser degree by just these two.

And the same two Senators have also been unwilling to consider support of a proposed change in the filibuster rule in order to pass the For the People Act, the voting rights bill which is so badly needed to protect American democracy.

Criticism of the 50 Republican Senators

Among Democrats, and especially those with progressive views, there is strong criticism of Sens. Manchinema—and for good reason. Perhaps it goes without saying, but the criticism of all the Republican Senators should be even stronger.

For example, the proposals in Biden’s Build Back Better proposal would benefit a multitude of USAmericans, not just Democrats. And the global warming counter-proposals are to ward off dire changes that would be detrimental for all, not just Democrats. But there is no Republican support.

And then what about voting rights? Back in 2006 when Bush was President, the Senate voted 98-0 to extend the landmark Voting Rights Act for another 25 years. In 2013, though, the SCOTUS wrongheadedly gutted that bill.

And then on Oct. 20, not even one Republican Senator would vote to even consider Manchin’s watered-down bill to protect voting rights. Manchin promised he would get ten Republicans to vote for the bill, which was less than the original Democratic proposal. But he failed to get even one Rep. vote.

So, yes, I am quite critical of Sens. Manchinema—but even more critical of the 50 Republican Senators, especially because of their unwillingness to help protect democracy in this country.

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** On Oct. 21, The Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson posted an insightful opinion piece that is closely related to the above article; you can read it here (with no paywall).