Joe Manchin Buries His Head in His Hands and Then Bails on Chuck Schumer’s Speech After Vote to End Debt Ceiling Debate

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave a speech last night after eleven Republicans had just joined all 50 Democrats (and independents who caucus with Democrats) to end debate on a deal that would raise the debt ceiling.

The speech, however, did not go over well with U.S. Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV), who buried his head in his hands before eventually bailing.

In the speech Schumer called the possibility of defaulting on the nation’s debt “Republican manufactured” and he added that he believed “Republicans played a dangerous and risky partisan game, and I am glad that their brinksmanship did not work.”

Manchin, seated behind Schumer in the video can be seen shaking his head in disapproval.

Schumer later suggested that “Despite immense opposition from Leader McConnell and members of his conference, our caucus held together and we pulled our country back from the cliff’s edge that Republicans tried to push us over.”

As CNN put it:

Context matters here. Schumer’s speech came after McConnell blinked in the standoff over raising the debt limit. McConnell had, not 24 hours earlier, proposed an off-ramp in the form of the very compromise that the Senate had just approved. Rather than playing chicken with the nation’s debt obligations, McConnell had provided a way to push the problem for another six weeks — in theory opening up the possibility of negotiations on a way to extend the debt ceiling for a longer period of time.

And McConnell and much of his leadership team — Roy Blunt of Missouri, John Barrasso of Wyoming and John Thune of South Dakota — had ALL voted to end unlimited debate on the debt ceiling extension, providing the 61 votes that then allowed Democrats to pass the measure by simple majority.

For those Republicans — and Manchin — what Schumer did in his speech was tantamount to running in front of them and spiking the ball in their face. Showing them up at the very moment that they felt they had handed him at least a temporary win.

Manchin said on his way out of the Capitol of the speech, “I didn’t think it was appropriate at this time.”

“We have to de-weaponize. You can’t be playing politics. None of us can, on both sides. Civility is gone,” Manchin insisted.

WATCH: From Thursday evening, @SenSchumer remarks following Debt Limit vote. pic.twitter.com/pJU0JzJQJa

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 8, 2021