Senator of one of the poorest states says no to stimulating the economy. Hey, Jeff, $2k per adult will equate to a huge boom in the WV meth industry.
Hey Joe Manchin, why do you preside over such a shithole state? What are you doing about it besides just doing the minimum to stay in power?
Manchin clearly doesn't care about being reelected, which shouldn't be a shock, given his comments in the past. As @juicystream pointed out, I think there will be enough Republicans to pass the needed stimulus. We'll see.
Quite the opposite. He's trying to thread the needle for a hopelessly lost seat in 2024 (or whatever his next race ends up being). The problem is Joe doing this is going to torpedo the rest of the Democratic party at the ballot box.
That's why I said he clearly doesn't care about being reelected. You have a good point about hurting other Democratic candidates, however. Sure would be nice if a GOP senator would declare his or herself an "independent" and caucus with the Democrats. Fat chance. Manchin is going to be a pain.
...West Virginians don't believe in taking any MORE money from the government... ...unless you give it to them.
The problem is that there are far more controversial items that have to go in the reconciliation bill. For example, no Republican will vote for funding for state and local governments so the only way to do that is via reconciliation bill. So if Manchin doesn't want $2000 checks, it has to stay out of the reconciliation bill. Unless Collins or Murkowski magically decide to vote for the Democratic Covid relief package, I don't see any other way. But frankly, I'd still bring up the $2000 stimulus as a standalone bill and see if you can get 11 Republicans to vote for it. Bummer that Manchin is doing this but we shouldn't be surprised.