Dem Sen. Joe Manchin will vote for Trump's border wall proposal to open the government

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., seems to be up for any solution to end the ongoing government shutdown.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, a spokesperson for Manchin said the West Virginia lawmaker would vote for both of the competing bills that the Senate will vote on Thursday afternoon.

Both measures – one proposed by Republicans and backed by President Trump, and another by Democrats - would reopen federal agencies and pay 800,000 federal workers who are days from missing yet another paycheck. But the Republican proposal would couple ending the 34-day shutdown with $5.7 billion for Trump's border wall and revamping immigration laws, while Democrats’ solution would reopen agency doors for three weeks while bargainers seek a budget accord.

THE HILL – Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Thursday that he would support a White House-backed proposal to end the partial government shutdown in exchange for $5.7 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Manchin, who is from a state where President Trump remains popular, is the first Democrat to say he will vote for the proposal first outlined by Trump over the weekend.

BUT…he’s also going to vote on the Democrat proposal to fund the government through February 8:

The West Virginia senator said he would also vote for a continuing resolution (CR) that would reopen the roughly quarter of the government currently closed and fund it through Feb. 8.

“I’m voting for both. I’m doing everything in my power to open up this government,” Manchin said.

Here’s his tweet announcement:

Today I will vote for both gov funding bills b/c I believe we must end this harmful shutdown immediately & it’s our first opportunity in the Senate to do so. Even though they will probably fail, these votes are a start to finding a way to reopen the gov & get WVians back to work

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) January 24, 2019

It looks like he’s trying to have his cake and eat it too. But at least he’s being consistent in wanting to see the government open back up.

The rest of the Democrats are clearly playing politics with this, as they have been from the beginning. They are all fine and dandy with having a steel border wall, yet because it will help Trump in 2020, they are refusing to fund it.

As an aside, Ocasio-Cortez also voted with the GOP in the House:

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defied her party Wednesday, voting against a bill to end the partial government shutdown — on the grounds that the proposal would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border security.

That’s right. She went against her own party because the bill funded ICE. Talk about ridiculousness on steroids.

With ‘principled’ votes like this, I think AOC is gonna end up being the left’s version of Ron Paul.