WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Joe Manchin is not concerned about a government shutdown.
Manchin said during a Wednesday appearance on MetroNews “Talkline” there is still plenty of time to avoid a shutdown with a deadline for the budget or an extension looming for Friday.
“You’ve got two more days. Nothing around here ever seems to function until there is a deadline or a crisis,” he explained. “Two days, that’s 48 hours, that’s a lifetime in a news cycle in Washington D.C.”
Manchin said he’s frustrated that all trust is lost in the nation’s capital. He said the lack of trust has crippled the ability to reach an agreement on anything. He cited as a his chief example the breakdown over the immigration agreement which appeared to be in place before it collapsed. The breakdown appeared to be the lack of funding for border security. Manchin disagreed. He said the compromise included everything the White House sought for immigration.
“It was $2.7 billion exactly what the White House asked for,” Manchin said.
According to Manchin, the elephant in the room is the need for increased military spending. It’s an issue nobody heard anything about until a briefing after the vote on last year’s tax reform plan.
“The week after we voted on all the tax cuts for 1.5 trillion and all of the debts we put on our children, we were briefed by the military about all deferred maintenance and deficiencies we had,” explained the Senator. “Why didn’t they have this briefing before we voted?”
However, Manchin said what is done is done and his desire is to move ahead. He said if the military needs additional spending–he’ll support the military. He still doubted the government will shutdown.
“I’m going to give it a 70 to 80 percent chance that it will not shut down,” he said.