Sunday shows: Manchin in the spotlight after pivotal role in coronavirus aid debate
by The Hill staff
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who over the weekend played a critical role in advancing — and delaying — President Biden’s sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, appeared on multiple Sunday morning political interview shows.
The moderate senator discussed prospects for a minimum wage increase and House-passed voting rights legislation in the upper chamber.
Guests also discussed the latest on the coronavirus pandemic and decisions by some governors to lift public health mandates.
Moderate West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) predicted that the Senate would be able to reach a compromise to raise the minimum wage nationally.
Speaking with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Manchin told host Jake Tapper that he believed every single member of the upper chamber supported a minimum wage increase, while adding that the disagreement was over how much it should be.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) on Sunday shot down suggestions that Democrats are now forced to cater to him as he has become one of the most prominent moderate lawmakers in a 50-50 Senate.
“I’m not going to change my mind on the filibuster. I will change my mind if we need to go to a reconciliation to where we have to get something done once I know they have process into it,” Manchin said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But I’m not going to go there until my Republican friends have the ability to have their say also.”
Communications director Kate Bedingfield told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that President Biden remains committed to winning Republican support even after no GOP lawmakers broke with their party in either chamber to vote for the $1.9 trillion relief bill.
“Historically, if you look back at the different surges we’ve had, when they come down and start to plateau at a very high level… plateauing at a level of [60,000] to 70,000 new cases per day is not an acceptable level, that is really very high.”
Michael Osterholm, a former Biden adviser on COVID-19, warned on Sunday that although progress was being made in combating the coronavirus pandemic, the threat from new virus variants still loomed.
Mississippi’s Republican governor, Tate Reeves, on Sunday defended his decision to roll back restrictions on businesses and end Mississippi’s mask mandate, saying the levels of COVID-19 in his state did not warrant such measures remaining in place.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Sunday defended his state’s continued mask mandate as fellow Republican governors lift pandemic-related restrictions in their own states.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), one of several governors from both parties to announce a reversal of coronavirus restrictions, defended his decision Sunday, saying he viewed the rollback in his state as an “off-ramp” that could be adjusted if infections spike.
The governor of Michigan is defending the efficacy of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, saying she would get it herself should it be available when she is eligible to be vaccinated.
Amid reported investigations into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) office handling of statistics around coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said Sunday he was “confident” in his state’s data.
“We’re still developing the intelligence. We’re encouraging the Iraqis to move as fast as they can to investigate the incident and they are doing that. But you can expect that we will always hold people accountable for their acts,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on ABC’s “This Week.”
