Sen. Joe Manchin Tuesday called for protecting the 60-vote rule during the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, and said he's speaking to his colleagues to keep the exercise of the "nuclear option" from happening.
"I've been very clear about that," the West Virginia Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "I was against [former Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid did, you know, the nuclear option. We should have never gone there."
Manchin said he and others are working toward a vote for cloture, and to make sure the Gorsuch vote can be prevented from going to a "blow up."
The senator said he has not yet had his final meeting with Gorsuch to make his decision on whether he'll vote for his confirmation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed a filibuster to keep Gorsuch from reaching the 60 votes he needs for confirmation.
If that happens, it will be Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's call whether to go for the "nuclear option," meaning the rule requiring a super majority vote can be thrown out in favor of a simple majority ballot.
Manchin, though, said he finds Gorsuch to be a "fine individual, an upstanding individual," and he praised his moral and family values.
Also on the program, Manchin, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, discussed the ongoing controversy concerning House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, refusing to suggest Nunes step down in the wake of controversy concerning his visit to the White House grounds to view classified information.
"No member of the Senate wants to tell a member of the House or the House tell the Senate how to operate," said Manchin. "I can tell you only you about the Senate. Thank God that would never happen here. If it did happen, that person should step down."
However, he does not know how the committee could have one member "going rogue on you and then think they're going to set down and be an honest broker. It just doesn't work that way."
The senator also discussed the importance of bringing coal jobs back to his state, and said what is important is that there is an "all-in energy mix-up"
"We need what we call base load fuel," said Manchin. "That's fuel you can depend on to run your electricity turbines basically 24/7, rain or shine. Coal has been a staple of that for a long, long, long time. It's planned to be a part of that mix clear up through 2040, even with or without the Clean Power Act."
West Virginia, though, believes it can provide that coal "much better and much cleaner" if there is help in developing new technology.
"The clean power plan put basically standards that technology hadn't been proven to meet," said Manchin. "I'm saying, how can you ask us to meet a moving target?"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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