The Hill’s Morning Report — Democrats see red with Manchin’s retirement

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 11/10/23 6:26 AM ET

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Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia known for promoting bipartisan legislation, championing fossil fuels and blocking some big-spending policies backed by progressives, announced Thursday he won’t seek reelection.

His decision is a blow to Democrats who saw Manchin, a former governor who joined the Senate in 2010, as the party’s best shot to retain its majority in a state that former President Trump captured last time by 39 points.

The Hill: Manchin’s retirement a buzzkill for Senate Democrats’ 2024 hopes.

Popular Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who was a Republican before becoming a Democrat, then switching to evolve into a conservative Trump ally, leads in polls in West Virginia’s GOP Senate primary.

MANCHIN’S VOTE last year for President’s Biden’s $1 trillion Inflation Reduction Act — legislation widely criticized by conservatives as a collection of left-wing climate and other spending policies — did not sit well with West Virginia voters.

Manchin told constituents Thursday, “I believe in my heart of hearts that I have accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia.” He said he wants to explore “a movement” to unite the country.

“What I will be doing is traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together,” Manchin, 76, said in a video and more than one op-ed.

The senator’s Democratic colleagues for months have wondered if he would be lured to seek the White House next year on a centrist ticket with political group No Labels. West Virginia is a solidly Republican state that hasn’t backed a Democrat for the White House since 1996. The last independent candidate to be elected president was George Washington.

NO LABELS said in a statement that the organization would decide whether to go forward with a presidential ticket and nominees for president and vice president in early 2024 and commended Manchin for “stepping up to lead a long overdue national conversation about solving America’s biggest challenges, including inflation, an insecure border, out-of-control debt and growing threats from abroad” (The New York Times).

Axios: Former Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, a Trump critic and co-chair of No Labels, released an ad this week that signaled to some that he’s moving toward a third-party presidential race.

BIDEN’S ALLIES insist that independent and third-party tickets cannot win the White House next year in a contest between Biden and Trump, and they argue such candidates risk diverting voter support in key states that could cost Democrats the White House and put democracy at risk.

“Manchin loves being in the media spotlight, but as we learned in ‘96 [after defeat in the gubernatorial primary], he dearly hates losing and I don’t see him getting in a race where his chances of winning are almost nonexistent,” political journalist Phil Kabler, a part-time columnist with The Charleston Gazette-Mail who has covered Manchin for more than three decades, told Morning Report.

Pointing to the No Labels presidential endeavor, Kabler added, “I just have some sense that he wouldn’t get into a position where he’s almost doomed to failure.”

▪ Politico: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in an interview, says he and GOP colleagues worked for more than a year to engineer conditions that led to Manchin’s decision not to seek reelection and to elevate Justice’s chances of victory. “I think that’s the best recruiting job I ever did,” McConnell said.

▪ The Hill’s Niall Stanage explores in The Memo how Manchin adds new uncertainty to Biden’s 2024 chances.

▪ The Hill: Here are House incumbents not running for reelection next year.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

▪ A new study finds the state of U.S. tipping a mess.

▪ U.S. tax brackets are going up because of inflation. That means some people will owe less in taxes, the IRS said Thursday.

▪ The U.K. economy has entered what is expected to be a protracted period of stagnation on the cusp of a recession.

LEADING THE DAY

CONGRESS

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday teed up a vote for next week on a stopgap government funding bill as Congress faces down a Nov. 17 shutdown deadline.

“Today I am taking the first procedural step for the Senate to move forward on a legislative vehicle we can use next week to pass a temporary extension to avoid a government shutdown,” Schumer said, adding that both parties will continue discussions on a continuing resolution to do that. What the Senate’s legislation will look like remains an open question. Top Democrats are hoping for a stopgap spending package that would extend funding until shortly before Christmas, giving them a chance to pass a larger fiscal 2024 bill.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republicans would prefer a bill that lasts into January so they aren’t squeezed by the Senate and its appropriations process. GOP members in both chambers have made clear they want no part of an omnibus spending bill like the one that was passed at the end of 2022 (The Hill).

SCHUMER’S MOVE COMES AFTER House Republicans pulled their annual financial services and general government funding bill Thursday amid divisions on abortion-related provisions and FBI funding. It was the second time in a week GOP leaders opted to punt a vote on a funding bill over divisions within the party. House Republicans are looking to stake out what they’ve described as the most conservative starting point before negotiations ramp up with the Democratic-led Senate. But the approach has also made it difficult for House Republicans to pass the legislation with a narrow majority (The Hill).

“We don’t have the Democrats voting for it, because the bills are so conservative,” Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), one of the House spending cardinals, said Thursday. But he also discussed the insufficient GOP support behind the plan. “They have the right to do that. But it’s unfortunate because then we just lose leverage.”

▪ Yahoo News: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Manchin call for a commission to stabilize U.S. debt.

▪ CNN: Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) unloaded on his GOP critics and said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) — who voted to oust him — deserves to lose her reelection bid.

THE HIGHLY CHARGED DEBATE over U.S. policy in Israel has exposed long-standing frictions among House Democrats. The Hill’s Mychael Schnell and Mike Lillis write the divisions surfaced last month, when 15 Democrats declined to support a resolution declaring solidarity with Israel following Hamas’s deadly terrorist attack several weeks earlier. They bubbled up again over legislation providing U.S. military aid to Tel Aviv. And they were thrust into the spotlight once more on Tuesday, when 22 Democrats voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her harsh criticisms of Israel’s military response in Gaza. The emotional clashes have sparked threats of knocking some Democrats from leadership posts, and expelling others altogether. Some veteran lawmakers said they’ve never seen the rancor so high.

“It’s hell,” said one Democratic lawmaker, who spoke anonymously to discuss a sensitive topic. “I’m really worried about the hate that I’m seeing every place.”

PUERTO RICAN ADVOCATES ARE TURNING TO THE SENATE to keep a compromise bill about the territory’s status alive, The Hill’s Rafael Bernal reports. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) introduced the Puerto Rico Status Act in the upper chamber Wednesday, leading 21 Democratic co-sponsors on the legislation that would have Puerto Ricans choose between statehood, independence, or independence with free association with the United States.

The bill passed the House in the last Congress, marking the most significant forward motion to amend territorial status in Puerto Rico’s colonial history. But the push to allow Puerto Ricans to choose threatens to lose momentum to other issues in the national spotlight.

“I think we should all agree that Americans living in Puerto Rico deserve an overdue, permanent and democratic answer on their political status,” Heinrich said at a press conference attended by Puerto Rican veterans.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at noon on Monday.

The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. on Monday.

The president has no public events scheduled. On Saturday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will mark Veterans Day weekend with a White House reception in the morning for veterans and members of the military community. They will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at 11 a.m. at Arlington National Cemetery on the centennial anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Biden will speak at 11:15 a.m. and then return to the White House before he and the first lady depart for New Castle, Del., in the afternoon.

Vice President Harris is in Washington and has no public events. On Saturday, she will attend the president’s remarks at Arlington National Cemetery with second gentleman Doug Emhoff to mark Veterans Day.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in New Delhi and began his day with a working breakfast withIndian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. He participated in the U.S.-India 2+2 discussion sessions and a working lunch itinerary. Blinken met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India at 4:35 p.m. local time (early this morning EDT).

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who ventured nearly 7,000 miles to the Cook Islands, will represent the president today at the Pacific Islands Forum.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in San Francisco and will take questions from the news media at 3 p.m. following meetings with Chinese Premier He Lifeng.

ZOOM IN

Photo —Politics-Biden: https://digital-release.thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/11/Politics-Biden_110923_AP_Evan-Vucci.jpg

POLITICS

Biden used a major labor agreement between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Big Three auto companies to hammer former President Trump on Thursday for his record on jobs and support for union workers.

Donning a red UAW shirt, the president addressed a boisterous crowd of supporters and community officials in Belvidere, Ill., near a reopening auto plant. The president was in Illinois for a victory lap after the union reached an agreement with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis late last month on a contract that included significant pay increases and other benefits — after a strike where the president himself walked a picket line (The Hill).

“When my predecessor was in office, six factories closed across the country. Tens of thousands of auto jobs were lost nationwide, and on top of that he was willing to cede the future of electric vehicles to China,” Biden said. “Well, like almost everything else he said, he’s wrong. And you have proved him wrong. Instead of lower wages, you won record gains. Instead of fewer jobs, you won a commitment for thousands of more jobs.”

Speaking on Thursday before Biden’s remarks, UAW President Shawn Fain praised Biden for the role his administration played in negotiations between the union and the carmakers. Fain and Biden met privately before speaking at the rally (ABC News).

The GOP’s election losses on Tuesday have underscored the political quagmire they find themselves in when it comes to abortion, write The Hill’s Caroline Vakil and Nathaniel Weixel. Republicans sought to paint Democrats as too extreme on the issue as they found themselves increasingly on the defensive in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. But the night’s results showed just how energizing reproductive rights is for voters more than a year out from the overturning of Roe v. Wade, fueling GOP concerns about how the party will handle the issue next year.

2024 ROUNDUP

▪ Jill Stein announced she will run in the 2024 presidential election, seeking the Green Party’s nomination. Democrats blamed Stein in 2016 for siphoning votes, which they argued helped make Trump’s victory possible.

▪ The fourth GOP primary debate is scheduled Dec. 6 to be broadcast by NewsNation in Tuscaloosa, Ala., with moderators Megyn Kelly, Elizabeth Vargas of NewsNationand Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of the conservative website The Washington Free Beacon. (NewsNation and The Hill are owned by Nexstar).

▪ The nation’s first openly gay governor is looking to re-enter politics nearly 20 years after he left. Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey (D) announced Thursday he will seek the mayor’s office in Jersey City in 2025.

▪ Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will testify in the federal trial against David DePape, the conspiracy-obsessed man who attacked him in the couple’s San Francisco home last year.

ELSEWHERE

MIDDLE EAST & GLOBAL

ISRAEL AGREED to daily, four-hour pauses in the fighting in northern Gaza, with three-hour advance notice each time, the White House announced Thursday, adding that a second pathway was going to open for civilians to flee northern Gaza and for the release of hostages.

But there was no sign of a letup in the fighting that has killed thousands and laid waste to the seaside enclave, Reuters reported.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, traveling in India Friday, called the temporary pauses “some progress,” noting that the U.S. had made clear to Israel this weekthat “much more needs to be done in terms of protecting civilians and getting humanitarian assistance to them.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed his assent to temporary pauses in military operations to take place in specific neighborhoods of northern Gaza, meant to allow Palestinians to migrate south or leave their locations to restock or seek medical or other help. He repeated there would be no cease-fire.

BIDEN TOLD REPORTERS early Thursday that he had asked the Israelis for a “pause longer than three days” during negotiations over the release of some hostages held by Hamas, though he ruled out the chances of a general cease-fire. Asked for an update on captives held by Hamas, the president replied, “We’re not going to stop until we get them out.”

French President Emmanuel Macron opened a Gaza aid conference on Thursday urging a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza while appealing to Israel to protect civilians, saying that “all lives have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without rules.”

The World Health Organization warned this week of the rapid spread of infectious diseases in Gaza as basic necessities run out and fighting rages (The Hill).

REGULATIONS

🐔 The Department of Agriculture released a new rule this week targeting abuses of the chicken production sector in the meat industry, The Hill’s Saul Elbein reports. Big meatpackers must now warn chicken growers about the risks of the deals they’re entering into.

📝 New administration rules overhaul how the federal government assesses the costs and benefits of regulation and some government spending programs, clearing a path for aggressive efforts to fight climate change and help the poor (The New York Times).

OPINION

■ Why I won’t be seeking reelection to the Senate (“I want to find a better way”), by Joe Manchin, opinion contributor, The Wall Street Journal.

■ What is America’s Plan B against Iran? by Sima Sabet, opinion contributor, The Hill.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 👏👏👏 Congratulations to winners of this week’s Morning Report Quiz! While puzzling over Americans’ obsession with storage, we asked for smart guesses about where the U.S. government stashes its valuables.

Here’s who locked up positions in the winner’s circle (* = bonus point): Luke Charpentier, John Dziennik Jr., *Brent Tracy, *Mitchell Rambin, *Harry Strulovici, *David Letostak, *Don Evans, *Stan Wasser, *Patrick Kavanagh, Lynn Gardner, *Ki Harvey, Don Swanson, *William Earl, James Morris, *S. Cannon, *John Trombetti, Sharon Banitt, Luther Berg, *Pam Manges and Tom Chabot.

They knew that the United States holds the largest stockpile of gold reserves in the world, about half of which is stored at Fort Knox in Kentucky. (Note: gold stored at the New York Federal Reserve does not belong to the federal government.)

The United States keeps its reserve supply of petroleum stored in Texas and Louisiana caverns.

The Pentagon keeps Minuteman III nuclear missiles in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, so the best answer is “all of the above.”

The National Archives stores, preserves and makes accessible America’s treasured federal records and those of its citizens. The bonus point (*) answer is Kansas, the location of the Archives’ storage space nicknamed “ice cube.”

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Tags Jim Justice Joe Biden Joe Manchin Larry Hogan