West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) said this morning that he’s determined to be the guy to bring both sides of the aisle together to produce a budget agreement in the upper chamber.
The freshman Dem, though, started his diplomatic process by panning both GOP and Democratic budgets up for consideration as nothing but “election year political games.”
“From the Republicans, we saw deeply troubling budget proposals that would destroy Social Security and Medicare – all while protecting the wealthy. On top of that, those budgets wouldn’t end unfair tax loopholes or rein in excessive spending on expensive defense contractors,” Manchin said. “When it comes to the administration’s budget, it digs an even deeper debt hole for the next generation, and I cannot in good conscience support that.”
He said the only way forward has to be the plan laid out by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairmen of President Obama’s deficit-reduction commission.
“Whether it’s Democrats or Republicans, business or labor leaders, liberals or conservatives, the people of this country want us to come together around a bipartisan budget,” Manchin said. “That’s why I am determined to continue working for progress on the Bowles-Simpson framework, the only approach with support from both sides of the aisle.”
The House overwhelmingly defeated the Simpson-Bowles plan in March. The White House was miffed by the plan’s entitlement reform and brushed the report to the side instead of trying to build some sort of bipartisan consensus around it.
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