Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who Republicans hope might support some or all of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet, on Wednesday singled out two nominees that he found objectionable and could vote against.
Manchin volunteered Betsy DeVos and Tom Price, Trump’s picks to run the Education and Health and Human Services Departments respectively, as the two that caused concern. Up for reelection in 2018 in West Virginia, which overwhelmingly supported Trump, Manchin has pledged to work closely with the Republican administration. But his declaration suggests that the Republicans have little margin for error on two controversial nominees within their own caucus.
“Public education is everything we have,” Manchin told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room,” adding that school-choice programs like those backed by DeVos would not work in a rural state like his. “I’m very troubled by that.”
“I’m concerned about Congressman Price,” he added, pointing to Price’s proposals to curb Medicare services and his position on funding the battle against the opiate epidemic.
Manchin said he was comfortable with Trump’s stances on those two issues and hopes Price adopts those, rather than his own, as department head.
“But still we have to go through this process and that’s really what the nomination process is all about,” Manchin said. “I haven’t made a final decision.”
