Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) on Monday railed against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) by likening the centrist senator to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in response to Manchin’s opposition to a sweeping voting rights bill and refusal to eliminate the filibuster.
“Joe Manchin has become the new Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell during Obama’s presidency said he would do everything in his power to stop Obama,” Bowman said.
Bowman then swiped at McConnell’s remarks last month saying that he is “100 percent” focused “on stopping” President Biden’s administration, before taking aim at Manchin again by accusing the West Virginia senator of working to undermine democracy.
“And now Joe Manchin is doing everything in his power to stop democracy and to stop our work for the people, the work that the people sent us here to do,” Bowman said.
Bowman argued that Manchin is not bringing Congress closer to bipartisanship, but proving that he is an “obstructionist.”
“He is doing the work of the Republican Party by being an obstructionist, just like they’ve been since the beginning of Biden’s presidency,” Bowman said.
Bowman’s scathing rebuke of Manchin comes a day after the West Virginia senator declared his opposition to the House-passed For the People Act in an op-ed published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, leaving little optimism that the legislation can pass through the 50-50 Senate.
Manchin dismissed the sweeping voting rights legislation his Democratic colleagues have pushed as “partisan,” while also maintaining his commitment to preserve the filibuster that has presented obstacles in moving Democrats’ agenda forward with its 60-vote threshold.
Hours after his op-ed was published on Sunday, Manchin denied “being naive” for hanging onto hopes of bipartisan compromise in an evenly split Senate with zero margin of error during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I’m not being naive. I think [McConnell is] 100 percent wrong in trying to block all the good things that we’re trying to do for America,” Manchin said. “It would be a lot better if we had participation and we’re getting participation.”
Manchin maintained that he will “continue to keep working with my bipartisan friends.”
Watch Bowman’s remarks below:
JUST NOW: whoa.
"Joe Manchin has become the new Mitch McConnell…Joe Manchin is doing everything in his power to stop democracy."
Dem Rep @JamaalBowmanNY on @Sen_JoeManchin on voting rights and the fillibuster.@NewDaypic.twitter.com/PYBiMo8l0o
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) June 7, 2021
