Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Sunday a proposed $908B coronavirus relief passage is a must-pass — or vulnerable small businesses will go under.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Manchin said “it's a deal that must come together. We don't have a choice now.”
“This is an emergency relief package only until April 1 to get through the first quarter,” he said, adding “every indication says more is needed.”
He said Joe Biden “said this is a down payment.”
“He can come in as president, when he does come in as president, his team can put together a different proposal that takes us further down the road for more recovery,” he said.
“If we don't do something now on both sides of the aisle… the $908 billion investment we make into the citizens of this country and try to keep this economy from collapsing could be more important than $2 trillion would be in February or March if we do nothing — and even then it might be too late for so many people and small businesses.”
Manchin also lamented the view of Democrats “as something we’re not.”
“In my state, I'm the last Democrat standing,” he said. “|The bottom line is we've been identified as something we're not. I'm a proud West Virginia Democrat, and I don't know of any Democrat … that would ever defund the police. How that got on as a mantra as a Democrat slogan, that's not true. How all of these other things that seem to be extreme are not true, it's not who we are. But we were tagged with that.
“We were slow probably as a party of responding to it and saying, listen, there's more to us.”
Related Stories:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.