Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) applauded negotiators for reaching a debt ceiling deal over the weekend, saying he “absolutely” thinks there will be enough support to pass the legislation, despite growing opposition to the proposal on both sides of the aisle.
“The bottom line is that we cannot have the threat of a default, for the sake of our economy,” Manchin said during a live interview on West Virginia MetroNews’s “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval on Tuesday afternoon. “Now, is there going to be Republicans who don’t vote for it? Sure. Will there be Democrats who won’t vote for it? Sure. Will there be enough support to pass it? I absolutely think so.”
ALL EYES ON SWING VOTE MASSIE AS HOUSE PANEL TAKES UP DEBT CEILING BILL
The agreement includes spending cuts demanded by Republicans, but not the same reductions in the sweeping legislation passed by the GOP-majority House last month. In exchange for raising the debt limit for two years, a two-year budget deal would impose limits for 2025. It would also expand some work requirements for food stamp recipients and would attempt to streamline an environmental law to build new energy projects.
Manchin said he helped shape part of the deal that focuses on the push to finish construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline, a project that has faced several delays. He said he worked with everyone to ensure the project in his state was included.
“They knew how important this was. Permitting is important. The White House, president on down, all his people working, you had to have permitting process,” Manchin said. “They all recognize we have to have more energy, we have to have more natural gas in the mix. This is the only thing that can do — what needs to be done for our country in a short period of time.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) came out against the Manchin-backed environmental provision on Monday, and his office confirmed the Virginia senator plans to file an amendment to revoke federal permits for the natural gas project from the debt ceiling legislation.
A spokesperson for the senator said in a statement the provision is completely unrelated to the debt ceiling matter, and that Kaine is “extremely disappointed by the provision of the bill to greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline in Virginia, bypassing the normal judicial and administrative review process every other energy project has to go through.”
Manchin disputed Kaine’s perspective during his radio interview on Tuesday.
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“When they are telling you that we’re skipping different procedures, we’re not skipping any of them. It's time to move on, the product is needed in America,” Manchin said. “There’s not been a pipeline that has ever been suggested or possibly built in America that has ever gone through the scrutiny that the MVP has.”
“Tim Kaine is a friend of mine. I respectfully disagree with him on this,” Manchin added.