Retiring Senator Joe Manchin, who often sought bipartisan compromise while also leveraging the power of a decisive vote over the past few years, focused in on one factor that could unite his colleagues: their frustration with Joe Manchin.
“I’ve had my share of tough votes, and at times I felt like the whole Senate was united in being upset with me,” Manchin said Tuesday afternoon during a lighthearted moment of reflection in his final floor speech before Senate colleagues.
“So maybe we did. Maybe we were able to bring you together. I don’t know — I tried.”
Manchin, a former Democrat who registered as an independent a few months ago, was making his final Senate floor speech to a roomful of colleagues. Manchin, 77, decided not to run for re-election to a seat representing West Virginia, where Republican candidates dominated the electoral cycle this year.
Manchin, who assumed office in the Senate in 2010, has been in the national spotlight as a sometimes difficult-to-get decisive vote in an evenly-split U.S. Senate.
The former governor has a reputation as a retail politician beyond compare. But as West Virginia’s political preferences have grown more and more Republican, his seat was viewed as increasingly vulnerable. The current governor, Republican Jim Justice, will be sworn in to the Senate seat next month.
His 26-minute floor speech touched on the spirit of compromise, appreciation for his staff and constituents, legislative accomplishments, concerns about great matters like the national debt and some opportunities for change that he believes were missed because of the pull of partisan politics.
Manchin’s speech was followed by messages of appreciation from a bipartisan set of senators.
“With our nation increasingly polarized by extremists on both the far left and the far right. Joe is something that we need more of, an extreme moderate. As fiercely independent as the people of the Mountain State, he has demonstrated time and again, the strength to stand against the destructive trend of hyper partisanship,” said Senator Susan Collins, a centrist Republican from Maine.
“He is a man who stands by his belief. He is a man of principle and character,” said Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah. “And my life’s lesson has been the one person of conscience and character can change a whole nation.”
“He did important work in this body,” said John Barrasso, R-Wyoming. “He passed impactful legislation, and he leaves us with important lessons for the future. We’ll miss you.”
“One of the things that Joe always stood for and has always been about is this notion that we ought to reason together,” said Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., who said he’s served in all kinds of bipartisan groups or gangs with Manchin over the years.
West Virginia’s other senator, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, described tag-teaming with Manchin on policy matters and criss-crossing the state in a spirit of teamwork, despite their party differences.
“Joe’s been the senior senator from West Virginia for all 10 years of my tenure, and the reality is I’ve got big shoes to fill here,” Capito said, “and in case I forget that, Joe reminds me of that every single day. Sometimes we disagree, but when we disagree, we do it respectfully and on the merits.”
Manchin said that he and Capito were able to accomplish many successes together, including work to have the New River Gorge named as a national park. And he spoke excitedly of completing the Appalachian Corridor H highway through the central mountains.
Manchin, who has served as Senate Energy chairman, described efforts to maintain West Virginia as an energy powerhouse. He described a tenacious effort to develop the Mountain Valley Pipeline to move natural gas along with recent manufacturing developments through Nucor, Berkshire Hathaway and Form Energy.
He expressed continued support for Senate institutions like the filibuster, which generally requires 60 votes to end debate and move toward a final vote. Manchin said the practice encourages give and take among members of different political parties.
“When each step could take a little step to find common ground, powerful things happen,” he said.
Just moments later, though, he spoke of bills that failed because of partisan pull.
“I’ve seen more than my share of missed opportunities, legislation that was overwhelmingly supported by the American public, bills that would have significantly improved the lives of millions of Americans: immigration reform, background checks for guns, balancing the budget, too many opportunities to fix what’s broken in America that has slipped right through our fingers,” he said.
“Not because of any disagreements we might have had or substantive disagreements; these opportunities were missed because of the politics got in the way of doing our job.”
And he expressed continued worry about the enormous national debt, now at $36 trillion.
“That breaks down to $104,000 for every man, woman and child in America. This is not sustainable. Not sustainable. This is something you all have to cure, and I know you will,” he told his fellow senators.
“It’s terrifying to think by the end of this fiscal year, the US will spend more on paying debt or interest on our debt than we will to defend our country or help Americans everywhere, more on the debt than anything else.”
Manchin acknowledged the frustration he has often felt over how the Senate works or doesn’t work. When he first arrived after serving as governor of West Virginia, he recalled, “it was a harder transition than I expected coming up, coming here to Washington, was so humbling. It really was.
“I came in thinking, okay, here we go. We’re going to work together, just like we did in West Virginia, to solve the nation’s problems. Now, not West Virginia problems, but the nation’s problems. But it didn’t take long for me to see that the divisions here run pretty deep.”
By 2018, as he was considering whether to run for another six-year term, Manchin was saying out loud, “This place sucks.”
In his final comments to his fellow senators, Manchin instead spoke of what an honor it has been.
“I believe that I’m going to be rooting, screaming and hollering for my team. This is my team, all the D’s and the R’s and the I’s, and here’s my team, and I love each and every one of you,” he said in his conclusion.
“And thank you for giving me the honor of a lifetime to serve in I think the greatest deliberate body the world has ever known and ever will have. The United States Senate. God bless the state of West Virginia. May God continue to bless the United States of America.”