Sen. Joe Manchin he hasn’t quite figured out what he’ll do next once the Senate leaves next month.
But whatever his future holds, he plans to continue hosting Congress from his former colleagues on his popular houseboat in West Virginia. Manchin has for years hosted politicians from both parties aboard the “Almost Heaven,” which has been docked in Washington, his way of bringing together his colleagues from both sides of the aisle.
“I’m going to participate,” Manchin told CBS News “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “The ship stays here.”
Manchin, who considered an independent presidential bid this year, said he would have “liked to have had a platform” to talk about what he called centrist common sense.
He expressed hope in the success of President-elect Donald Trump, although he previously said that electing Trump would be “very damaging” to the country. Manchin said the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021it was a “bridge too far” for him.
“When the people speak and make their choice and the election is over, you better pray with everything you’ve got that the president succeeds,” Manchin told Brennan. “And if you’re in a position to help, and you know how the system works, and you can make it work, do it. . . . This is about our country, and I want it to succeed, and I’ve told him that. , I’ll do everything that I can to help in any way humanly possible.”
Manchin was the governor of West Virginia before winning his seat in the US Senate in 2010. Since then, he has tried to work with both parties. he formally left the Democratic Party in May, registering as an independent.
Manchin still hopes to push a bill to ease the permitting process for the energy industry through Congress. He said he encouraged Trump to make it happen during a conversation at the Army-Navy game in Maryland last weekend.
His Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 would facilitate a faster permitting process for oil and natural gas, renewable energy, mineral mining and transmission lines. It has not advanced in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Manchin said he hopes Trump will watch his interview on “Face the Nation” and take a serious look at his bill.
“So now, with this interview, I hope, I’m asking President Trump to really look at this authorization bill, because it’s basically a good bill that we’ve never gotten this far on a bipartisan basis, with John. Barrasso, he’s going to be the No. 2 man in the Republican Senate, a good person, a good friend of mine,” Manchin told Brennan. “We’ve worked hard and negotiated hard, and we have a good bill. It’s ready to go. We have the bill ready. He could leave it.”
Manchin said he believes Trump understands the political realities at play in Washington better than he did when he won in 2016. And the reality is that the Senate remains more independent than the House, he said.
“I think he understands it a lot better now than he did in 2016 when he first won,” Manchin said. “So he’s got some experience under him now. He understands the process, but he also understands the power he wields right now, the influence he has” with the House and Senate, which will be in Republican hands in January. Manchin wants to keep the filibuster in place; requires most bills to reach a threshold of 60 votes to be considered.
“I think there are enough Republican senators and Democratic senators as well, but the Republicans are in control because they’re the majority, that’s not going to allow the filibuster to go away,” Manchin said. “… I don’t think they will. And it only takes five, or it takes four, I’m sorry, it takes four Republican senators, just four, and I assure you, I think there are a lot more. than four.”
These Republicans, he said, “will protect the institution.”
“They’ve been here long enough,” Manchin said. “What goes around comes around, and in two years, that could turn around – in 2026, you never know. It’s people power.”
contributed to this report.