On CNN's “The Situation Room” broadcast on Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) said he doesn't understand the financial situation behind Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' economic plan, a likely 2024 Democratic presidential candidate. He said he worked well with Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), during their time in Congress, but he doesn't know if Walz has “moved too far to the left.”
Moderator Wolf Blitzer asked, “Senator, what would it take for you to support and vote for Kamala Harris?”
“I want to see whether the public recognizes the debt that we have, how we're going to fix our finances, whether they recognize that we have an unprecedented debt of $35.4 trillion,” Manchin responded. [more than] “This is more than we've ever seen before. What we're doing is telling people what you want to do, all these programs, you want to spend this much money on this and that, new homes and businesses, what are your bills? What are your expenses? Let's be realistic. People want. People don't live in this dream land. They have to worry about money every day.”
“Nobody is talking about the finances of this country,” Manchin said at the start of the show, adding that he wanted to know who Harris would surround herself with.
Manchin added, “Kamala is right. Tim Walz is somebody I worked with for eight years when I was in the Senate and he was a great guy to work with. That helped a lot. But then people said he'd moved too far to the left. I don't know. I've spoken to Tim a few times, but we'll see what happens. Either way, I like the governor.”
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