‘Every one of us should be ashamed’ of current Congress: Manchin

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-Va.) and former Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) lamented the current state of Congress in side-by-side interviews Sunday, with Manchin saying Americans are “ashamed” of the state of Congress. “Should”, he said. body.

“Each of us should be ashamed of who we are and who we are now in the 118th Congress,” Manchin said in an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju.

The House of Representatives has struggled for months to pass legislation, relying on short-term funding deals and under constant threat of speaker change. Mr Portman described Congress as “dysfunctional”.

Moderates on both sides said in interviews that they were disappointed in their own parties. Manchin has long been at odds with the Biden administration, while Portman was an opponent of former President Trump until retiring from the Senate after the 2022 election.

Neither was endorsing Biden or Trump. Manchin said Biden “must take responsibility for what’s wrong” with immigration and border policy, but also held House Republicans responsible for rejecting a bipartisan Senate border security bill earlier this year. he added.

“Now that Joe Biden has done something wrong and we know he can be held accountable and we can fix it, and it’s being done in a bipartisan way, you’re not going to do it,” Manchin said. They won’t accept it, which makes the situation even worse.”

Portman added that the bipartisan atmosphere he enjoyed during his time in the Senate is now gone.

“You can be a MAGA Republican or you can be a progressive Democrat. But if you’re willing to think of your work as problem-solving, you can find a way to find common ground,” Portman said. he said. “And that has to be the overriding concern. I’m worried that’s lacking in the Senate today.”

Manchin announced earlier this year that he would not run for re-election in November, and his seat is likely to go to a Republican. The move further heated up the Senate majority race as both parties battled over battleground states.