Retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., crushed Senate Republicans for the doomed bipartisan border bill, accusing them of placing "my politics" above what's best for the country.
Manchin made the comments in an interview with CNN on Wednesday after the Senate failed to advance the $118 billion border security bill, which also would have provided aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
Further, Manchin agreed with the assessment that Republicans sank the bill at the behest of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who the senator believes wants the southern border as a campaign issue to wield against President Joe Biden.
"Well, that's the appearance of what happened because basically, it was moving down a pathway of passing," Manchin told CNN.
While Manchin said Biden is to "blame for where we are today," he said the sin of not advancing a fix to "secure our border" is worse.
"Trust me, it's worse to do what we did today in not fixing something we knew needed to be fixed, than someone making a mistake in letting it get to where it got to," Manchin said.
Manchin accused Republicans of playing party politics with the bill and urged them to "start putting your country before yourself."
"When you have a chance to change, and everyone comes to an agreement, with President Biden and everyone else also agreeing that this bill will give us the tools to secure our border, and politics raises its ugly head? Absolutely it’s from the bowels of wherever to say that, I'm sorry, that's not going to be good for my politics," Manchin told CNN.
"Well, I'm sorry to all of my friends and colleagues — this is for America. This is good for our country," he continued. "Start putting your country before yourself. Quit worrying about being a Democrat or Republican getting reelected. If you have to do this to get reelected, then you shouldn’t want to serve."
Manchin pushed for lawmakers to reverse course and get the bill passed.
"It's more than disappointing, it's dangerous, extremely dangerous what we’re doing today," he said. "This has to be reversed, and the people should demand it. Those who said they were going to vote, it's the greatest bill that they've ever seen, it’s finally we're fixing it, and then backed away in 24 hours because someone led them to believe it’d be harmful to their political career? Ask them why.
"Ask them who they work for."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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