Manchin delivers bipartisan warning to senators in farewell speech

Retiring Sen. Joe Manchin III on Tuesday recalled his arrival in Washington 14 years ago as a new senator from West Virginia, where he was greeted by Democratic leader Harry Reid with a request to start raising money for Democrats to campaign against his new Republican colleagues.

The West Virginia lawmaker said he found it a disturbing but telling introduction to life at the Capitol, where the art of striking deals has disappeared in a whirlpool of partisanship.

“I came in thinking OK, we’re going to work together,” Mr. Manchin, 77, said in his farewell speech to colleagues. “It didn’t take long for me to see the divisions here ran pretty deep.”

He said colleagues are rewarded for campaigning against each other and demonizing one another, and don’t find reasons to get to “yes” on big bills.

“It’s not enough to run against something or someone. Be for something,” he said.

He also delivered a gentle prod to colleagues not to ditch the filibuster, the defining feature of the Senate, which gives individual lawmakers extraordinary power to affect legislation.

“I believe in that with everything in me,” he said.

Mr. Manchin came to the Senate in November 2010, having won the seat of the late legendary Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a fellow Democrat. He will depart at the end of this year as an independent, having fled the Democratic Party in May; Republican Gov. Jim Justice was elected to the seat last month.

He cheered some of Washington’s accomplishments over his time in office, such as extending broadband internet access to rural areas, boosting U.S. energy production to record levels and making a dent in a towering infrastructure and maintenance backlog.

But he worried over the big issues left untackled — particularly the U.S. debt, which he said threatens much of the good Washington hopes to do.

He also said Washington itself has changed for the worse in the last 80 years. He said the lesson from the Great Depression was that government wasn’t a handout, but a hand up.

“But somewhere along the way government stopped being a partner and started being a provider. It’s not good for people who end up trapped in a system of dependency and poverty,” he said. “It’s time to put the relationship between government and the people back in its proper place.”

Mr. Manchin often found himself the linchpin in deals because politically he was at the center of the two parties.

Bills that had bipartisan buy-in were always better, but he wasn’t above partisan power plays, such as when he was the crucial vote in passing President Biden’s budget-climate bill in 2022.

He had some buyer’s remorse, though, regularly chiding Mr. Biden for slow-walking the pro-energy portions of that law.

His work on that bill angered those on both sides of the aisle. Democrats said he was being intransigent and delaying a big win for Mr. Biden. Republicans said he was caving on his stated principles by even negotiating with the president.

Mr. Manchin said Tuesday his stances sometimes left him alone.

“At times, I felt like the whole Senate was united in being upset at me. So maybe we were able to bring you together,” he quipped.

Mr. Manchin said he did see signs that cooperation is possible.

He recalled hosting one gathering of senators on his houseboat, which he keeps docked in Washington. He was talking with then-Sen. Tom Harkin, a left-wing Democrat, when Sen. Ted Cruz, a right-wing Republican showed up.

Mr. Harkin balked at being there, but Mr. Manchin convinced him to stick around and get to know his colleague.

Before long, Mr. Harkin and Mr. Cruz were chatting away happily. And soon, back in the Senate, they began working on legislation together, Mr. Manchin said.

“That’s the power of sitting down, listening and getting to know each other,” he said. “We need more of that in Washington. We need to stop viewing compromise as a weakness.”