Not all Democratic lawmakers are on equal footing. Those in blue states could be reelected in perpetuity regardless of what decisions they make. But those who serve in red states have to be much more careful about their choices.
This is certainly true of Joe Manchin. Manchin has continued to be elected in West Virginia despite the fact that the state went for Donald Trump by nearly 40 points.
The current stimulus package, though, is wildly popular with both Republicans and Democrats. Still Manchin pushed to limit the people who would be eligible for a $1,400 check. And that drew a strong rebuke from MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
The host began, “The public understands this bill will help a lot of people who really need it. all of this said, why on Earth would you take steps to make it less effective and less popular? And yet today that is exactly what Senate Democrats were insisting on.”
Hayes continued:
“Around 12 million fewer adults and 5 million fewer kids would get the stimulus payments under the new Biden Senate compromise, according to preliminary estimates. A lot of those adults are voters who will now get less in direct cash assistance from President Biden than they did from Donald Trump. Why would Democratic Senators, like Joe Manchin, and Jean Shaheen push for this to happen? Cut Joe Manchin a ton of slack. The guy got re-elected in West Virginia, trumpiest state in the union. But explain this one to me?”
Watch a clip of the segment below, courtesy of MSNBC:
Chris Hayes blasts Joe Manchin for meddling with Joe Biden’s incredibly popular stimulus bill. pic.twitter.com/27z9dTxV6M
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 4, 2021
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
