On Thursday night, the Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling — and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) took the opportunity to give a speech bashing Republicans.
However, Schumer’s combative tone angered Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.), a critical swing voter.
Video of his weird reaction quickly went viral.
Here’s what Schumer said:
On Monday morning I said we needed to pass a bill to address the debt limit by the end of the week, and that is exactly what we did Republicans played a dangerous and risky partisan game, and I am glad that their brinksmanship did not work.
For the good of America’s families, for the good of our economy, Republicans must recognize in the future that they should approach fixing the debt limit in a bipartisan way. What is needed now is a long-term solution, so we don’t go through this risky drama every few months, and we hope Republicans will join in enacting a long-term solution to the debt limit in December. We’re ready to work with them.
Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans insisted they wanted a solution to the debt ceiling but said Democrats must raise it alone by going through a drawn-out, convoluted, and risky reconciliation process.
At this point, Manchin shook his head and put his hands over his face. Footage of his response racked up 170,000 views on Twitter, as of Friday morning.
Schumer continued:
That was simply unacceptable to my caucus. And yesterday Senate Republicans finally realized their obstruction was not going to work. I thank, very much thank, my Democratic colleagues for our showing our unity in solving this Republican-manufactured crisis.
Meanwhile, Manchin was speaking with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a fellow Democrat. It remains unclear what was said.
Manchin approached Schumer after the speech to speak with him, but, again, the contents of the conversation remain unconfirmed.
Watch the video here —
Not sure what’s going on here pic.twitter.com/sdjtEbUZwx
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 8, 2021
Manchin later criticized Schumer’s speech in front of reporters.
“I didn’t think it was appropriate at this time,” Manchin told CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent May Raju.
He continued:
I just think that basically what we’ve got to do is find a pathway forward, to make sure that we deweaponize. We have to deweaponize. You can’t be playing politics. None of us can—on both sides. And both sides have been very guilty of this, and the frustration was built up. And I’m sure that Chuck’s frustration was built up, but we just disagree. I’d have done it differently…
On both sides, I’m just saying it’s just that civility is gone, and I’m not gonna be part of getting rid of it. I’m gonna try to bring it back, and I speak out when I see someone do something I don’t like.
In a humorous moment, the reporter remarked, “You referred to this as an ‘effing’ embarrassing speech.”
Manchin responded, “No, I never say that. Do I? That’s Jonathan. You’re confusing me with my good friend Jon Tester.” He was referring to Sen. Jon Tester, the Democrat from Montana.
Congress raised the debt limit enough to continue federal operations until sometime in December, the treasury department estimates. Then it’s time to have the fight again.
Congress will decide either to raise the debt limit or — in an unprecedented move — to default on the federal debt. If Congress defaults, then it jeopardizes Americans’ payments for Medicare, Social Security, and tax refunds.
The reporter told Manchin, “In December, this is going to be so much harder to do.”
Manchin interrupted, “No, it’s not. No, we’re gonna make it happen… I think both of them know how critical this is.”
The reporter remained skeptical. “How are you going to do it?”
Manchin answered:
If we can get everybody together, calm down a little bit, get everybody together, and understand this is best for both sides, you can fight about a lot of things, but you don’t throw this out.
This is the most serious thing we can do, and we’re not going to do it anymore. And I said: remember. I told you before we were not going to default, and we did not default. And we will not default and go through this again. And we’ll work it out…
We should both agree that this is too serious for anyone to get in trouble with and to play with. This is too, too serious.
Manchin said Schumer’s tone was an impediment to this bipartisan dealmaking.
Schumer’s attacks provoked the ire of not only Manchin but also some Republicans. Schumer passed 60-vote threshold for raising the debt ceiling because he mustered 11 votes from Senate Republicans.
After the speech, some Republicans vowed against cooperating with Schumer in December.
If these Republicans follow through on their promises, then Manchin will be right… about Schumer’s speech, at least.
Schumer railed on Rs about the debt drama after 11 voted to overcome a filibuster and move to a final vote on debt ceiling.
Multiple GOP senators were angry about it. “Classless speech,” Mike Rounds told me. Says Republicans wouldn’t cooperate next time. He was one of the 11— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 8, 2021
The Horn editorial team