title: Nintendo 64

text: Several Nintendo 64 games have been released for the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console (VC) services and are playable with the Classic Controller, GameCube controller, Wii U Pro Controller, or Wii U GamePad. Differences include a higher resolution and a more consistent framerate than the Nintendo 64 originals. Some features, such as Rumble Pak functionality, are not available in the Wii versions. Some features are also changed on the Virtual Console releases. For example, the VC version of "Pokémon Snap" allows players to send photos through the Wii's message service, and "Wave Race 64"s in-game content was altered due to the expiration of the Kawasaki license. Several games developed by Rare were released on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service, including "Banjo-Kazooie", "Banjo-Tooie", and "Perfect Dark", following Microsoft's acquisition of Rareware in 2002. One exception is "Donkey Kong 64", released in April 2015 on the Wii U Virtual Console, as Nintendo retained the rights to the game. Several Nintendo 64 games via "Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack" as the expanded tier of the Nintendo Switch Online were released on October 25, 2021 in North America and October 26, 2021 in Overseas.


title: Nintendo 64

text: Several unofficial third-party emulators can play Nintendo 64 games on other platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, and smartphones.


title: Nintendo 64

text: The controller is shaped like an "M", employing a joystick in the center. "Popular Electronics" called its shape "evocative of some alien space ship". While noting that the three handles could be confusing, the magazine said, "the separate grips allow different hand positions for various game types".


title: Nintendo 64

text: Nintendo released a peripheral platform called 64DD, where "DD" stands for "Disk Drive". Connecting to the expansion slot at the bottom of the system, the 64DD turns the Nintendo 64 console into an Internet appliance, a multimedia workstation, and an expanded gaming platform. This large peripheral allows players to play Nintendo 64 disk-based games, capture images from an external video source, and it allowed players to connect to the now-defunct Japanese Randnet online service. Not long after its limited mail-order release, the peripheral was discontinued. Only nine games were released, including the four "Mario Artist" games ("Paint Studio", "Talent Studio", "Communication Kit", and "Polygon Studio"). Many planned games were eventually released in cartridge format or on other game consoles. The 64DD and the accompanying Randnet online service were released only in Japan.


title: Nintendo 64

text: To illustrate the fundamental significance of the 64DD to all game development at Nintendo, lead designer Shigesato Itoi said: "I came up with a lot of ideas because of the 64DD. All things start with the 64DD. There are so many ideas I wouldn't have been allowed to come up with if we didn’t have the 64DD". Shigeru Miyamoto concluded: "Almost every new project for the N64 is based on the 64DD. ... we'll make the game on a cartridge first, then add the technology we’ve cultivated to finish it up as a full-out 64DD game".


title: Nintendo 64

text: The iQue Player was a handheld TV game Nintendo 64 system that released only in China on November 17, 2003, after China banned video game consoles. The games that were released in the iQue Player's lifetime (from 2003 to 2016) are "Super Mario 64", "", "Mario Kart 64", "Wave Race 64", "Star Fox 64", "Yoshi's Story", "Paper Mario", "Super Smash Bros.", "F-Zero X", "Dr. Mario 64", "Excitebike 64", "Sin and Punishment", "Custom Robo" and "Animal Crossing".


title: Nintendo 64

text: The Nintendo 64 received acclaim from critics. Reviewers praised the console's advanced 3D graphics and gameplay, while criticizing the lack of games. On G4techTV's "Filter", the Nintendo 64 was voted up to No. 1 by registered users.


title: Nintendo 64

text: In February 1996, "Next Generation" magazine called the Nintendo Ultra 64 the "best kept secret in videogames" and the "world's most powerful game machine". It called the system's November 24, 1995, unveiling at Shoshinkai "the most anticipated videogaming event of the 1990s, possibly of all time". Previewing the Nintendo 64 shortly prior to its launch, "Time" magazine praised the realistic movement and gameplay provided by the combination of fast graphics processing, pressure-sensitive controller, and the "Super Mario 64" game. The review praised the "fastest, smoothest game action yet attainable via joystick at the service of equally virtuoso motion", where "[f]or once, the movement on the screen feels real". Asked if consumers should buy a Nintendo 64 at launch, buy it later, or buy a competing system, a panel of six "GamePro" editors voted almost unanimously to buy at launch; one editor said consumers who already own a PlayStation and are on a limited budget should buy it later, and all others should buy it at launch.


title: Nintendo 64

text: At launch, the "Los Angeles Times" called the system "quite simply, the fastest, most graceful game machine on the market". Its form factor was described as small, light, and "built for heavy play by kids" unlike the "relatively fragile Sega Saturn". Showing concern for a major console product launch during a sharp, several-year long, decline in the game console market, the review said that the long-delayed Nintendo 64 was "worth the wait" in the company's pursuit of quality. Although the "Times" expressed concerns about having only two launch games at retail and twelve expected by Christmas, this was suggested to be part of Nintendo's "penchant for perfection", as "while other platforms offer quite a bit of junk, Nintendo routinely orders game developers back to the boards to fix less-than-perfect titles". Describing the quality control incentives associated with cartridge-based development, the "Times" cited Nintendo's position that cartridge game developers tend to "place a premium on substance over flash", and noted that the launch games lack the "poorly acted live-action sequences or half-baked musical overtures" which it says tend to be found on CD-ROM games. Praising Nintendo's controversial choice of the cartridge medium with its "nonexistent" load times and "continuous, fast-paced action CD-ROMs simply cannot deliver", the review concluded that "the cartridge-based Nintendo 64 delivers blistering speed and tack-sharp graphics that are unheard of on personal computers and make competing 32-bit, disc-based consoles from Sega and Sony seem downright sluggish".


title: Nintendo 64

text: "Time" named it the 1996 Machine of the Year, saying the machine had "done to video-gaming what the 707 did to air travel". The magazine said the console achieved "the most realistic and compelling three-dimensional experience ever presented by a computer". "Time" credited the Nintendo 64 with revitalizing the video game market, "rescuing this industry from the dustbin of entertainment history". The magazine suggested that the Nintendo 64 would play a major role in introducing children to digital technology in the final years of the 20th century. The article concluded by saying the console had already provided "the first glimpse of a future where immensely powerful computing will be as common and easy to use as our televisions". The console also won the 1996 Spotlight Award for Best New Technology.


title: Nintendo 64

text: "Popular Electronics" complimented the system's hardware, calling its specifications "quite impressive". It found the controller "comfortable to hold, and the controls to be accurate and responsive".


title: Nintendo 64

text: In a 1997 year-end review, a team of five "Electronic Gaming Monthly" editors gave the Nintendo 64 scores of 8.0, 7.0, 7.5, 7.5, and 9.0. They highly praised the power of the hardware and the quality of the first-party games, especially those developed by Rare's and Nintendo's internal studios, but also commented that the third-party output to date had been mediocre and the first-party output was not enough by itself to provide Nintendo 64 owners with a steady stream of good games or a full breadth of genres. "Next Generation"s end of 1997 review expressed similar concern about third party support, while also noting signs that the third party output was improving, and speculated that the Nintendo 64's arrival late in its generation could lead to an early obsolescence when Sony and Sega's successor consoles launched. However, they said that for some, Nintendo's reliably high-quality software would outweigh those drawbacks, and gave the system 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.


title: Nintendo 64

text: Developer Factor 5, which created some of the system's most technologically advanced games along with the system's audio development tools for Nintendo, said, "[T]he N64 is really sexy because it combines the performance of an SGI machine with a cartridge. We're big arcade fans, and cartridges are still the best for arcade games or perhaps a really fast CD-ROM. But there's no such thing for consoles yet [as of 1998]".


title: Nintendo 64

text: The Nintendo 64 was in heavy demand upon its release. David Cole, industry analyst, said "You have people fighting to get it from stores". "Time" called the purchasing interest "that rare and glorious middle-class Cabbage Patch-doll frenzy". The magazine said celebrities Matthew Perry, Steven Spielberg, and Chicago Bulls players called Nintendo to ask for special treatment to get their hands on the console. The console had only two launch games, with "Super Mario 64" as its killer app.


title: Nintendo 64

text: During the system's first three days on the market, retailers sold 350,000 of 500,000 available console units. During its first four months, the console yielded 500,000 unit sales in North America. Nintendo successfully outsold Sony and Sega early in 1997 in the United States; and by the end of its first full year, 3.6 million units were sold in the United States. "BusinessWire" reported that the Nintendo 64 was responsible for Nintendo's sales having increased by 156% by 1997. Five different Nintendo 64 games exceeded 1 million in sales during 1997.


title: Nintendo 64

text: After a strong launch year, the decision to use the cartridge format is said to have contributed to the diminished release pace and higher price of games compared to the competition, and thus Nintendo was unable to maintain its lead in the United States. The console would continue to outsell the Sega Saturn throughout the generation, but would trail behind the PlayStation.


title: Nintendo 64

text: Nintendo's efforts to attain dominance in the key 1997 holiday shopping season were also hurt by game delays. Five high-profile Nintendo games slated for release by Christmas 1997 ("", "Banjo-Kazooie", "Conker's Quest", "Yoshi's Story", and "Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr.") were delayed until 1998, and "Diddy Kong Racing" was announced at the last minute in an effort to somewhat fill the gaps. In an effort to take the edge off of the console's software pricing disadvantage, Nintendo worked to lower manufacturing costs for Nintendo 64 cartridges, and leading into the 1997 holiday shopping season announced a new pricing structure which amounted to a roughly 15% price cut on both first-party and third-party games. Response from third-party publishers was positive, with key third-party publisher Capcom saying the move led them to reconsider their decision not to publish games for the console.


title: Nintendo 64

text: In Japan, the console was not as successful, failing to outsell the PlayStation and even the Sega Saturn. Benimaru Itō, a developer for "Mother 3" and friend of Shigeru Miyamoto, speculated in 1997 that the Nintendo 64's lower popularity in Japan was due to the lack of role-playing video games. Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi also said the console's lower popularity in Japan was most likely due to lack of role-playing games, and the small number of games being released in general.


title: Nintendo 64

text: Nintendo reported that the system's vintage hardware and software sales had ceased by 2004, three years after the GameCube's launch; as of December 31, 2009, the Nintendo 64 had yielded a lifetime total of 5.54 million system units sold in Japan, 20.63 million in the Americas, and 6.75 million in other regions, for a total of 32.93 million units. The Aleck 64 is a Nintendo 64 design in arcade form, designed by Seta in cooperation with Nintendo, and sold from 1998 to 2003 only in Japan.


title: Nintendo 64

text: The Nintendo 64 is one of the most recognized video game systems in history, and its games have had an indelible impact on the industry. Numerous new franchises launched, and a thriving speed running community arose. Many of its games have been ported or remastered for newer consoles.


title: Nintendo 64

text: Designed in tandem with the controller, "Super Mario 64" and "" are widely considered by critics and the public to be two of the greatest and most influential games of all time. "GoldenEye 007" is one of the most influential games for the shooter genre.


title: Eagle

text: Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just 14 species can be found—2 in North America, 9 in Central and South America, and 3 in Australia.


title: Eagle

text: Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any kind of bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable (about 50 cm long or more overall) vertebrates.


title: Eagle

text: Eagles are large, powerfully-built birds of prey, with heavy heads and beaks. Even the smallest eagles, such as the booted eagle ("Aquila pennata"), which is comparable in size to a common buzzard ("Buteo buteo") or red-tailed hawk ("B. jamaicensis"), have relatively longer and more evenly broad wings, and more direct, faster flight – despite the reduced size of aerodynamic feathers. Most eagles are larger than any other raptors apart from some vultures. The smallest species of eagle is the South Nicobar serpent eagle ("Spilornis klossi"), at and . The largest species are discussed below. Like all birds of prey, eagles have very large hooked beaks for ripping flesh from their prey, strong, muscular legs, and powerful talons.


title: Eagle

text: The beak is typically heavier than that of most other birds of prey. Eagles' eyes are extremely powerful. It is estimated that the martial eagle, whose eyes are more than two times larger than the human eye, has a visual acuity up to 8 times that of humans. This acuity enables eagles to spot potential prey from a very long distance. This keen eyesight is primarily attributed to their extremely large pupils which ensure minimal diffraction (scattering) of the incoming light. The female of all known species of eagles is larger than the male.


title: Eagle

text: Eagles normally build their nests, called eyries, in tall trees or on high cliffs. Many species lay two eggs, but the older, larger chick frequently kills its younger sibling once it has hatched. The parents take no action to stop the killing.


title: Eagle

text: It is said that eagles fly above clouds but this is not true. Eagles fly during storms and glide from the winds pressure. This saves the bird's energy.


title: Eagle

text: Due to the size and power of many eagle species, they are ranked at the top of the food chain as apex predators in the avian world. The type of prey varies by genus. The "Haliaeetus" and "Ichthyophaga" eagles prefer to capture fish, though the species in the former often capture various animals, especially other water birds, and are powerful kleptoparasites of other birds. The snake and serpent eagles of the genera "Circaetus", "Terathopius", and "Spilornis" predominantly prey on the great diversity of snakes found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. The eagles of the genus "Aquila" are often the top birds of prey in open habitats, taking almost any medium-sized vertebrate they can catch. Where "Aquila" eagles are absent, other eagles, such as the buteonine black-chested buzzard-eagle of South America, may assume the position of top raptorial predator in open areas. Many other eagles, including the species-rich genus "Spizaetus", live predominantly in woodlands and forests. These eagles often target various arboreal or ground-dwelling mammals and birds, which are often unsuspectingly ambushed in such dense, knotty environments. Hunting techniques differ among the species and genera, with some individual eagles having engaged in quite varied techniques based on their environment and prey at any given time. Most eagles grab prey without landing and take flight with it, so the prey can be carried to a perch and torn apart.


title: Eagle

text: The bald eagle is noted for having flown with the heaviest load verified to be carried by any flying bird, since one eagle flew with a mule deer fawn. However, a few eagles may target prey considerably heavier than themselves; such prey is too heavy to fly with, thus it is either eaten at the site of the kill or taken in pieces back to a perch or nest. Golden and crowned eagles have killed ungulates weighing up to and a martial eagle even killed a duiker, 7–8 times heavier than the preying eagle. Authors on birds David Allen Sibley, Pete Dunne, and Clay Sutton described the behavioral difference between hunting eagles and other birds of prey thus (in this case the bald and golden eagles as compared to other North American raptors):


title: Eagle

text: They have at least one singular characteristic. It has been observed that most birds of prey look back over their shoulders before striking prey (or shortly thereafter); predation is after all a two-edged sword. All hawks seem to have this habit, from the smallest kestrel to the largest Ferruginous – but not the Eagles.


title: Eagle

text: Among the eagles are some of the largest birds of prey: only the condors and some of the Old World vultures are markedly larger. It is regularly debated which should be considered the largest species of eagle. They could be measured variously in total length, body mass, or wingspan. Different lifestyle needs among various eagles result in variable measurements from species to species. For example, many forest-dwelling eagles, including the very large harpy eagle, have relatively short wingspans, a feature necessary for being able to maneuver in quick, short bursts through densely forested habitats. Eagles in the genus "Aquila", found almost exclusively in open country, are noted for their ability to soar, and have relatively long wings for their size.


title: Eagle

text: These lists of the top five eagles are based on weight, length, and wingspan, respectively. Unless otherwise noted by reference, the figures listed are the median reported for each measurement in the guide "Raptors of the World" in which only measurements that could be personally verified by the authors were listed.


title: Eagle

text: The eagles are generally distributed in all types of habitats and nearly all parts of the world. The birds can be found in northern tundra to tropical rainforests and deserts. In North America, bald eagles and golden eagles are very common.


title: Eagle

text: The other nine species are endemic to Central and South America. The birds have a highly concentrated population in the Africa and eastern hemisphere. Several islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans are also rich and have distinct species of eagles.


title: Eagle

text: The snake eagles are placed in the subfamily Circaetinae. The fish eagles, booted eagles, and harpy eagles have traditionally been placed in the subfamily Buteoninae together with the buzzard-hawks (buteonine hawks) and harriers. Some authors may treat these groups as tribes of the Buteoninae; Lerner & Mindell proposed separating the eagle groups into their own subfamilies of Accipitridae.


title: Eagle

text: Some authors include "Gypohierax angolensis", the "vulturine fish eagle" (also called the palm-nut vulture) in this group. However, genetic analyses indicate it is related to a grouping of "Neophron"–"Gypaetus"–"Eutriorchis" (Egyptian vulture, bearded vulture (lammergeier), and Madagascar serpent eagle).


title: Eagle

text: The fish eagles have a close genetic relationship with "Haliastur" and "Milvus"; the whole group is only distantly related to the "Buteo" group.


title: Eagle

text: Tribe Aquililae or proposed subfamily Aquilinae. Genera: "Aquila", "Hieraaetus"; "Spizaetus", "Oroaetus", "Spizastur"; "Nisaetus"; "Ictinaetus", "Lophoaetus"; "Polemaetus"; and "Stephanoaetus".


title: Eagle

text: Despite filling the niche of a snake eagle, genetic studies suggest that the Madagascar serpent eagle ("Eutriorchis") is not related to them.


title: Eagle

text: Harpy eagles or "giant forest eagles" are large eagles that inhabit tropical forests. The group contains two to six species, depending on the author. Although these birds occupy similar niches and have traditionally been grouped, they are not all related: the solitary eagles are related to the black hawks and the Philippine eagle to the snake eagles.


title: Eagle

text: Major new research into eagle taxonomy suggests that the important genera "Aquila" and "Hieraaetus" are not composed of nearest relatives, and it is likely that a reclassification of these genera will soon take place, with some species being moved to "Lophaetus" or "Ictinaetus".


title: Eagle

text: The modern English term for the bird is derived from by way of . The origin of is unknown, but it is believed to possibly derive from (meaning dark-colored, swarthy, or blackish) as a reference to the plumage of eagles.


title: Eagle

text: Old English used the term , related to Scandinavia's "ørn/örn". It is similar to other Indo-European terms for "bird" or "eagle", including (), (), and .


title: Eagle

text: In the southern part of Finland, near the Gulf of Finland, is the town of Kotka, which literally means "eagle", while the town of L'Aquila in the central part of Italy literally means "the eagle".


title: Eagle

text: In Britain before 1678, "eagle" referred specifically to the golden eagle, with the other native species, the white-tailed eagle, being known as "erne". The modern name "golden eagle" for "aquila chrysaetos" was introduced by the naturalist John Ray.


title: Eagle

text: The village of Eagle in Lincolnshire, England, has nothing to do with the bird; its name is derived from the Old English words for "oak" and "wood" (compare "Oakley").


title: Eagle

text: In ancient Sumerian mythology, the mythical king Etana was said to have been carried into heaven by an eagle. Classical writers such as Lucan and Pliny the Elder claimed that the eagle was able to look directly at the sun, and that they forced their fledglings to do the same. Those that blinked would be cast from the nest. This belief persisted until the Medieval era.


title: Eagle

text: The eagle is the patron animal of the ancient Greek god Zeus. In particular, Zeus was said to have taken the form of an eagle in order to abduct Ganymede, and there are numerous artistic depictions of the eagle Zeus bearing Ganymede aloft, from Classical times up to the present (see illustrations in the Ganymede (mythology) page.)


title: Eagle

text: Psalm 103 (in Greek, Latin, and English) mentions renewing one's youth "as the eagle" (although the Hebrew word נשר apparently means vulture). Augustine of Hippo gives a curious explanation of this in his commentary on the Psalms.


title: Eagle

text: An eagle is a common form in the Anglican tradition, often used to support the Bible because of the symbolism of spreading the gospel over the world. Additional symbolic meanings for "eagle" include the pronouncements to the Israelites in Exodus 19:4; Psalms 103:5 and Isaiah 40:31.


title: Eagle

text: The United States eagle feather law stipulates that only individuals of certifiable Native American ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers for religious or spiritual reasons. In Canada, the poaching of eagle feathers for the booming U.S. market has sometimes resulted in the arrests of First Nations person for the crime.


title: Eagle

text: While every Native American tribe has their own set of customs and beliefs, one thing virtually every tribe has in common is a reverence for eagles. Native Americans view them as powerful medicine animals that represent bravery, honor, and insight. In addition, because eagles have the ability to fly, many tribes view them as having a connection to the Creator and possessing the ability to communicate with both the physical and supernatural worlds. In fact, the mythical Native American bird, the thunderbird, is based on the eagle and yet is considered to have even greater powers.


title: Eagle

text: For Native Americans, eagle feathers are also sacred. Eagles and their feathers are protected under federal law. However, Native Americans with certified ancestry are permitted to obtain and use eagle feathers in spiritual ceremonies. Traditionally, when a warrior displayed bravery in a battle, he was given an eagle feather. Hence, the iconic headdresses worn by the plains tribes that contained many eagle feathers represented a brave and powerful warrior. In addition, Native Americans believe that if a person finds an eagle feather on the ground, it is a gift from the Sky and the Earth.


title: Eagle

text: Eagles are an exceptionally common symbol in heraldry, being considered the "King of Birds" in contrast to the lion, the "King of Beasts". Whereas the lion (e.g. England) usually represents authority, the eagle is the symbol of power. They are particularly popular in Germanic countries such as Austria, due to their association with the Holy Roman Empire. The eagle of the Holy Roman Empire was two-headed, supposedly representing the two divisions, East and West, of the old Roman Empire. This motif, derived from the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire was also adopted by the Russian Empire and is still featured in the Flag of Albania. The Roman eagle was preceded by the eagle of Ptolemaic Egypt and the Achaemenid Empire. In the coat of arms of Kotka, Finland, the eagle is depicted carrying an anchor and the caduceus on its feet.


title: Eagle

text: Heraldic eagles are most often found "displayed", i.e. with their wings and legs extended. They can also occur "close", i.e. with their wings folded, or "rising", i.e. about to take flight. The heads, wings, and legs of eagles can also be found independently.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Joseph Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Manchin was the 34th governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005. After becoming a senator in 2010, he became the state's senior U.S. senator when Jay Rockefeller retired in 2015. Before entering politics, Manchin helped found and was the president of Enersystems, a coal brokerage company his family owns and operates.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin won the 2004 West Virginia gubernatorial election by a large margin and was reelected by an even larger margin in 2008. He won the 2010 special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by incumbent Democrat Robert Byrd's death with 53% of the vote, and in 2012 was elected to a full term with 61% of the vote. Manchin won a second term in 2018 with just under 50% of the vote. In both elections, he over-performed the Democratic presidential ticket by more than 40 percentage points. Since 2021, Manchin has been the only Democrat holding statewide or congressional office in West Virginia, and represents what is, by a large margin, the most Republican-leaning constituency of any Democrat in congress.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin has called himself a "centrist, moderate, conservative Democrat" and is generally cited as the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. He is known for working with Republicans on issues such as abortion, immigration, energy policy, and gun control. Manchin opposed President Barack Obama's energy policies, including reductions and restrictions on coal mining, voted against cloture for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (not voting on the bill itself), voted to remove federal funding for Planned Parenthood in 2015, supported President Donald Trump's border wall and immigration policies, and voted to confirm most of Trump's cabinet and judicial appointees, including Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He opposes many progressive priorities, such as Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, abolishing the filibuster, expanding the Supreme Court, and defunding the police. Manchin has also voted against repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, voted to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood in 2017, voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials. He is among the more non-interventionist members of the Democratic caucus, having repeatedly called for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and opposed most military interventions in Syria.


title: Joe Manchin

text: After the 2020 elections, Manchin became the "most important swing vote" in the Senate, which is split 50–50 between Democrats and Republicans, but controlled by Democrats because Vice President Kamala Harris is the tiebreaker. Since passing legislation with only Democratic support requires Manchin's vote, he wields a large influence in the 117th Congress.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Joseph Manchin III was born on August 24, 1947, in Farmington, West Virginia, a small coal mining town, the second of five children of Mary O. (née Gouzd) and John Manchin. The name "Manchin" was derived from the Italian name "Mancini". His father was of Italian descent (from the town of San Giovanni in Fiore, in Calabria) and his maternal grandparents were Czechoslovak immigrants. He is a member of the Friends of Wales Caucus.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin's father owned a carpet and furniture store, and his grandfather, Joseph Manchin, owned a grocery store. His father and his grandfather both served as Farmington's mayor. His uncle A.J. Manchin was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and later the West Virginia Secretary of State and Treasurer.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin graduated from Farmington High School in 1965. He entered West Virginia University on a football scholarship in 1965, but an injury during practice ended his football career. Manchin graduated in 1970 with a degree in business administration and went to work for his family's business.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 1988, Manchin founded Enersystems, a waste coal brokerage company based in Fairmont, West Virginia. Manchin was president of Enersystems until 2000, when he entered politics and gave control of the company's daily operations to his son, Joe Manchin IV. At some point during his tenure as governor, Manchin moved his Enersystems holdings into a blind trust. In a financial disclosure from 2020, Manchin reported that his non-public shares of Enersystems were worth between $1 million and $5 million and that between 2011 and 2020 he was paid $5,211,154 in dividend income from them. In 2020, he received over $500,000 in dividends. Enersystems is 71% of Manchin's investment income and 30% of his net worth.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2010, Manchin has listed AA Properties as a non-public asset on his annual financial disclosures. AA Property is reportedly 50% controlled by Manchin, and has, among other things, been an investor in Emerald Coast Realty, which owns a La Quinta hotel in Elkview, West Virginia.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1982 at age 35 and in 1986 was elected to the West Virginia Senate, where he served until 1996. He ran for governor in 1996, losing the Democratic primary election to Charlotte Pritt. At that time, he supported the Republican candidate for governor, Cecil Underwood, who went on to win. Manchin was elected Secretary of State of West Virginia in 2000 and oversaw his own election to Governor.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2003 Manchin announced his intention to challenge incumbent Democratic Governor Bob Wise in the 2004 Democratic primary. Wise decided not to seek reelection after a scandal, and Manchin won the Democratic primary and general election by large margins. His election marked the first time since 1964 that a West Virginia governor was succeeded by another governor from the same party.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin was a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association, and the Democratic Governors Association. He was also chairman of the Southern States Energy Board, state's chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission and chairman of the Interstate Mining Compact Commission.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In July 2005, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship sued Manchin, alleging that Manchin had violated Blankenship's First Amendment rights by threatening increased government scrutiny of his coal operations in retaliation for Blankenship's political activities. Blankenship had donated substantial funds into campaigns to defeat a proposed pension bond amendment and oppose the reelection of state Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw, and he fought against a proposed increase in the severance tax on extraction of mineral resources. Soon after the bond amendment's defeat, the state Division of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked a permit approval for controversial new silos near Marsh Fork Elementary School in Raleigh County. While area residents had complained for some time that the coal operation there endangered their children, Blankenship claimed that the DEP acted in response to his opposition to the bond amendment.


title: Joe Manchin

text: During the Sago Mine disaster in early January 2006 in Upshur County, West Virginia, Manchin confirmed incorrect reports that 12 miners had survived; in actuality only one survived. Manchin later acknowledged that a miscommunication had occurred with rescue teams in the mine. On February 1, 2006, he ordered a stop to all coal production in West Virginia pending safety checks after two more miners were killed in separate accidents. Sixteen West Virginia coal miners died in mining accidents in early 2006. In November 2006, SurveyUSA ranked Manchin one of the country's most popular governors, with a 74% approval rating.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin easily won reelection to a second term as governor in 2008 against Republican Russ Weeks, capturing 69.77% of the vote and winning every county.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Due to Senator Robert Byrd's declining health, there was speculation about what Manchin would do if Byrd died. Manchin refused to comment on the subject until Byrd's death, except to say that he would not appoint himself to the Senate. Byrd died on June 28, 2010, and Manchin appointed Carte Goodwin, his 36-year-old legal adviser, on July 16.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On July 20, 2010, Manchin announced he would seek the Senate seat. In the August 28 Democratic primary, he defeated former Democratic Congressman and former West Virginia Secretary of State Ken Hechler. In the general election, he defeated Republican businessman John Raese with 53% of the vote.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin ran for reelection to a full-term in 2012. According to the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, early polling found Manchin heavily favored, leading Representative Shelley Moore Capito 50–39, 2010 opponent John Raese 60–31, and Congressman David McKinley 57–28. Manchin did not endorse President Barack Obama for reelection in 2012, saying that he had "some real differences" with the presumptive nominees of both major parties, finding fault with Obama's economic and energy policies and questioning Romney's understanding of the "challenges facing ordinary people."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2018, Manchin ran for reelection. He was challenged in the Democratic primary by Paula Jean Swearengin. Swearengin is an activist and coal miner's daughter who was supported by former members of Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign. She criticized Manchin for voting with Republicans and supporting Trump's policies. Manchin won the primary with 70% of the vote.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On the Republican side, Manchin was challenged by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. In August 2017, Morrisey publicly asked Manchin to resign from the Senate Democratic leadership. Manchin responded, "I don't give a shit, you understand?" to a "Charleston Gazette-Mail" reporter. "I just don't give a shit. Don't care if I get elected, don't care if I get defeated, how about that?"


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin plans to run for reelection to a third full term in 2024. As of February 2022, he had a lead in the polls. A September 2022 poll showed him trailing three potential Republican challengers by as much as 15%.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin was first sworn in to the U.S. Senate by Vice President Joe Biden on November 15, 2010, succeeding interim Senator Carte Goodwin. In a 2014 "New York Times" interview, Manchin said his relationship with Obama was "fairly nonexistent."


title: Joe Manchin

text: According to "FiveThirtyEight", which tracks congressional votes, Manchin voted with Trump's position 50.4% of the time during his presidency.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin initially welcomed Trump's presidency, saying, "He'll correct the trading policies, the imbalance in our trade policies, which are horrible." He supported the idea of Trump "calling companies to keep them from moving factories overseas". Manchin voted for most of Trump's cabinet nominees. He was the only Democrat to vote to confirm Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, one of two Democrats to vote to confirm Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator, and one of three to vote to confirm Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin voted for Trump's first two Supreme Court nominees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. In the former case, he was one of three Democrats (alongside Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp) to vote to confirm; in the latter case, he was the only one. He opposed the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, citing the closeness to the upcoming presidential election.


title: Joe Manchin

text: According to "FiveThirtyEight", Manchin has voted with Biden's position 88.9% of the time . Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the Senate has been evenly divided between Democratic and Republican members; Manchin's ability to deny Democrats a majority has made him very influential.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In December 2021, Manchin signaled that he was not likely to vote for the Build Back Better Act, saying, "I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there." Manchin cited growing inflation, the national debt, and the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as reasons for opposition. The White House responded to his statements with Press Secretary Jen Psaki saying they "represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator's colleagues in the House and Senate". The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), which represents West Virginia coal miners and endorsed him in the 2018 United States Senate election in West Virginia, urged Manchin to revisit his opposition, noting that the bill includes an extension of a fund providing benefits to coal miners with black lung disease, which would expire at the end of the year. The UMWA also touted tax incentives for manufacturers to build facilities in coalfields, which would employ thousands of out-of-work miners.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On March 25, 2022, Manchin announced that he would vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On July 27, 2022, Manchin expressed his support for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a bill that would raise corporate taxes, decrease the federal deficit, lower medical costs, and fight climate change. He had previously said he would not support the bill, citing fears that government spending would increase inflation, but changed his position after discussions and negotiations with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin received the most funding from the oil and gas industry of any senator from May 2020 to May 2021, including $1.6 million in donations from fossil fuel PACs. He also receives funding from individuals and PACs connected to law and real estate, among others.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In June 2021, ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy said that Manchin was one of its key targets for funding and that he participated in weekly meetings with the company. Many senators and journalists have criticized Manchin's opposition to climate-change legislation given his funding by the fossil-fuel industry and his shares in his family-owned coal business.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On September 30, 2021, an MSNBC news reporter asked Manchin about his opposition to H.R.5376 - Build Back Better Act, accusing him of having a conflict of interest with provisions within the bill: "Sir, the company you founded, Enersystems, provides coal to power plants that would be impacted by one of the proposals in the plan. How is that not a conflict of interest?" Manchin replied, "I've been in a blind trust for 20 years. I have no idea what they're doing."


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin is often considered a moderate, or even conservative, Democrat. He has called himself a "centrist, moderate conservative Democrat" and "fiscally responsible and socially compassionate." CBS News has called him "a rifle-brandishing moderate" who is "about as centrist as a senator can get." The American Conservative Union gave him a 25% lifetime conservative rating and the progressive PAC Americans for Democratic Action gave him a 35% liberal quotient in 2016. In February 2018, a "Congressional Quarterly" study found that Manchin had voted with Trump's position 71% of the time in Trump's first year in office, but by the end of Trump's presidency, Manchin had voted with the president only 50.4% of the time. Manchin voted with Biden 88.9% of the time as of September 2022. In 2013, the "National Journal" gave Manchin an overall score of 55% conservative and 46% liberal.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin identifies as "pro-life". He has mixed ratings from both the abortion-rights and anti-abortion movements' political action groups. In 2018, Planned Parenthood, which supports access to abortion, gave Manchin a lifetime grade of 57%. National Right to Life (NRLC), which opposes abortion, gave Manchin a 100% score in 2019 and NARAL Pro-Choice America gave him a 72% in 2017. On August 3, 2015, he broke with Democratic leadership by voting in favor of a Republican-sponsored bill to terminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood both in the United States and globally. He has the endorsement of Democrats for Life of America, a Democratic PAC that opposes abortion.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On March 30, 2017, Manchin voted against H.J.Res. 43, which allowed states to refuse to give Title X grant money to organizations for reasons unrelated to their ability to provide the services needed. Trump signed the bill. In April 2017, Manchin endorsed the continued funding of Planned Parenthood. Also in 2017, Planned Parenthood gave him a rating of 44%. In January 2018, Manchin joined two other Democrats and most Republicans by voting for a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks. In June 2018, upon Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement, Manchin urged Trump not to appoint a judge who would seek to overturn "Roe v. Wade" but to instead choose a "centrist".


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2019, Manchin was one of three Democrats to join all Republicans in voting for a bill to require that doctors care for infants born alive after a failed abortion.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In February 2022, Manchin was the only Democratic senator to vote against an abortion proposal, Women's Health Protection Act, that would have included limiting the states' ability to restrict abortion access, among other expansions.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In May 2022, Manchin said that he would again vote against his party's bill, the Women's Health Protection Act, which included codifying federal abortion rights as the Supreme Court appeared poised to overturn "Roe". Manchin said the bill went too far and that he would support a narrower measure that still included codifying "Roe". He was the only Senate Democrat to oppose the legislation.


title: Joe Manchin

text: After Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced $2.7 million from the Department of Transportation's Essential Air Service program for the North Central West Virginia Airport in October 2019, Manchin called air travel critical for both economic growth and the tourism industry in West Virginia and said that reliable air service to North Central West Virginia "opened up the area to more visitors and new economic opportunities, including an aerospace industry that has generated more than $1 billion worth of economic impact in the surrounding region."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2021, during the time Manchin opposed the Build Back Better bill, several Republicans attempted to get Manchin to join the Republican Party. During appearances on Fox News, Mitch McConnell, Jim Justice, Jeff Van Drew, Bill Hagerty, and Tom Cotton suggested that Manchin join. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn also said they had attempted to convince Manchin to do so. '


title: Joe Manchin

text: In December 2018, following the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announcing a pause on the funding program for wireless broadband during its conduction of an investigation regarding the submission of coverage data by major wireless carriers, Manchin announced his intent to hold the renomination of Brendan Carr in protest of the move. Manchin lifted his hold the following week, after the FCC promised that rolling out funding for wireless broadband in rural areas would be a priority.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In March 2019, Manchin was a cosponsor of a bill that would have included consumer-reported data along with data from state and local governments into consideration during mapping of which areas have broadband and that would take into consideration the measures used to challenge broadband services. Manchin called himself "the only member of Congress to formally challenge a federal broadband coverage map through the Mobility Fund Phase II challenge process" and referred to the bill as "a good first step" in implementing public input in provider data.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In August 2019, Manchin sent FCC Chairman Ajit Pai eight letters that contained results from speed tests across his state of West Virginia as part of an effort to highlight incorrect broadband coverage maps in the state. Manchin opined that "devastating impacts on the tourism industry" in West Virginia were being caused by a lack of broadband access and that the same things that had attracted people to visit West Virginia such as its tall mountains, forests, hills, and rapids had made "broadband deployment astronomically expensive."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In his first year in office, Manchin met one-on-one with all 99 of his Senate colleagues in an effort to get to know them better.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On December 13, 2010, Manchin participated in the launch of No Labels, a nonpartisan organization "committed to bringing all sides together to move the nation forward." He co-chairs No Labels.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin was one of only three Democratic senators to vote against Senate Majority leader Harry Reid's move to implement the , which switched the Senate away from operating on a supermajority basis, to requiring only a simple majority for certain decisions, on November 21, 2013.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin worked with Senator Pat Toomey to introduce legislation that would require a background check for most gun sales.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin opposed the January 2018 government shutdown. "The New York Times" suggested that he helped end the shutdown by threatening not to run for reelection unless his fellow Democrats ended it.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Before his Senate swearing-in in 2010, rumors suggested that the Republican Party was courting Manchin to change parties. Republicans later suggested that Manchin was the source of the rumors, but they attempted to convince him again in 2014 after retaking control of the Senate. He again rejected their overtures. As the 2016 elections approached, reports speculated that Manchin would become a Republican if the Senate were in a 50–50 tie, but he later said he would remain a Democrat at least as long as he remained in the Senate.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin criticized Democrats for not standing for President Trump's 2018 State of the Union Address, saying, "I've seen it on both sides when Obama gave speeches, Republicans. That's disrespectful and last night was disrespectful."


title: Joe Manchin

text: On January 8, 2019, Manchin was one of four Democrats to vote to advance a bill imposing sanctions against the Syrian government and furthering U.S. support for Israel and Jordan as Democratic members of the chamber employed tactics to end the United States federal government shutdown of 2018–2019. In April 2019, he endorsed Republican Senator Susan Collins in her 2020 reelection campaign.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In February 2022, Manchin announced his endorsement of Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski in her reelection campaign that year. Should Manchin run for reelection in 2024, Murkowski said she would likewise endorse him.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Manchin and Murkowski led the drafting of the Ban Russian Energy Imports Act. The act would declare a national emergency pursuant to existing law and ban most fossil fuel imports from Russia for the war's duration. At introduction it was sponsored by 18 senators, a mixture of Republicans, Democrats, and independents.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2017, Manchin was one of eight Democratic senators to sign a letter to President Trump noting government-subsidized Chinese steel had been placed into the American market in recent years below cost and had hurt the domestic steel industry and the iron ore industry that fed it, calling on Trump to raise the steel issue with President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping in his meeting with him.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In July 2017, Manchin urged Trump to block the sale of the Chicago Stock Exchange to Chinese investors, arguing that China's "rejection of fundamental free-market norms and property rights of private citizens makes me strongly doubt whether an Exchange operating under the direct control of a Chinese entity can be trusted to 'self-regulate' now and in the future." He also expressed concern "that the challenges plaguing the Chinese market—lack of transparency, currency manipulation, etc.—will bleed into the Chicago Stock Exchange and adversely impact financial markets across the country."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In November 2017, in response to efforts by China to purchase tech companies based in the U.S., Manchin was one of nine senators to cosponsor a bill that would broaden the federal government's ability to prevent foreign purchases of U.S. firms by increasing the strength of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The scope of the CFIUS would be expanded to allow it to review and possibly decline smaller investments, and add national security factors for CFIUS to consider, including whether information about Americans would be exposed as part of transactions or whether a deal would facilitate fraud.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In November 2017, after the West Virginia Commerce Department announced an agreement with China Energy to invest $83.7 billion in shale gas development and chemical manufacturing projects in West Virginia after state Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher and China Energy President Ling Wen signed a Memorandum of Understanding, Manchin said that he was thrilled with the signing and that he was satisfied that China Energy recognized West Virginians as the hardest-working people in the world.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In March 2018, Manchin cited China as responsible for Trump's imposing of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, noting that the U.S. was the largest importer of steel while 50% of steel was produced in China, and that he did believe the theory that prices would increase as a result of the tariffs.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In May 2019, Manchin cosponsored the South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act, a bipartisan bill reintroduced by Marco Rubio and Ben Cardin that was intended to disrupt China's consolidation or expansion of its claims of jurisdiction over both the sea and air space in disputed zones in the South China Sea.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In a November 10, 2020, interview, Manchin said that he did not "see the need for the D.C. statehood with the type of services that we're getting in D.C. right now" and that he was "not convinced that's the way to go." Of Puerto Rico statehood, Manchin said that he opposed it but was open to discussion. In a January 10, 2021 interview, he did not affirm his opposition to statehood for D.C. or Puerto Rico, saying only, "I don't know enough about that yet. I want to see the pros and cons. So I'm waiting to see all the facts. I'm open up to see everything". On April 30, 2021, Manchin came out against the D.C. Statehood bill that had passed the House of Representatives, suggesting that D.C. could instead be given statehood by constitutional amendment.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In May 2019, Manchin and John Cornyn introduced the Disaster Recovery Funding Act, a bill that would direct the Office of Management and Budget to release $16 billion for disaster relief funding within 60 days to nine states and two U.S. Territories. Manchin said that West Virginia had been awaiting funding for rebuilding for three years since a series of floods in June 2016 and that he was proud to work with Cornyn on a bipartisan solution; the bill died in committee.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In August 2019, as Manchin announced $106 million in disaster relief funding for West Virginia, he said the Trump administration had finally heeded his request by releasing "this desperately needed funding to the people of West Virginia and other areas of the country that are still rebuilding and recovering from horrible natural disasters", and promoted the funding as helping West Virginia "rebuild smarter and stronger and reduce the potential future catastrophic flooding in this area."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2018, Manchin was one of 17 Democrats to break with their party and vote with Republicans to ease the Dodd-Frank banking rules.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In June 2011, Manchin joined Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in seeking a crackdown on Bitcoin currency transactions, saying that they facilitated illegal drug trade transactions. "The transactions leave no traditional bank transfer money trail for investigators to follow, and leave it hard to prove a package recipient knew in advance what was in a shipment," using an "'anonymizing network' known as Tor." One opinion website said the senators wanted "to disrupt the Silk Road drug website."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In May 2012, in an effort to reduce prescription drug abuse, Manchin successfully proposed an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration reauthorization bill to reclassify hydrocodone as a Schedule II controlled substance.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In March 2017, Manchin was one of 21 senators to sign a letter led by Ed Markey to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that noted that 12% of adult Medicaid beneficiaries had some form or a substance abuse disorder and that one third of treatment for opioid and other substance use disorders in the United States is financed through Medicaid, and opined that the American Health Care Act could "very literally translate into a death spiral for those with opioid use disorders" due to the insurance coverage lacking adequate funds for care, often resulting in individuals abandoning substance use disorder treatment.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In February 2019, Manchin said the collapse of an omnibus education reform proposal resulted from state lawmakers not laying groundwork for broad support for the proposal, saying, "You don't do major reform, policy changes, for the whole education system in a 60-day session without public hearings. There should have been a whole year of going out and speaking to the public." He stated his support for home school and private school as well as his opposition to funding "them with public dollars."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In a September 2019 letter to United States Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, Manchin noted that the West Virginia Education Department had identified over 10,000 children as "homeless for the 2018-2019 school year" and argued that West Virginia was receiving insufficient resources through the McKinney-Vento program and a Title I program.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin sits on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and supports a comprehensive, "all-of-the-above" energy approach that includes coal.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin's first bill in the Senate dealt with what he called the EPA's overreach. After the EPA vetoed a previously approved permit for the Spruce Mine in Logan County, West Virginia, he offered the EPA Fair Play Act, which would "clarify and confirm the authority of the Environment Protection Agency to deny or restrict the use of defined areas as disposal sites for the discharge of dredged or filled material." Manchin said the bill would prevent the EPA from "changing its rules on businesses after permits have already been granted."


title: Joe Manchin

text: On October 6, 2010, Manchin directed a lawsuit aimed at overturning new federal rules concerning mountaintop removal mining. Filed by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the lawsuit "accuses U.S. EPA of overstepping its authority and asks the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to throw out the federal agency's new guidelines for issuing Clean Water Act permits for coal mines." In order to qualify for the permits, mining companies need to prove their projects would not cause the concentration of pollutants in the local water to rise five times above the normal level. "The New York Times" reported that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the new legislation would protect 95% of aquatic life by banning operators from dumping mine waste into streams.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Environmentalists have criticized Manchin for his family ties to the coal industry. He served as president of Energysystems in the late 1990s before becoming active in politics. On his financial disclosures in 2009 and 2010, his reported earnings from the company were $1,363,916 and $417,255, respectively. Critics have said his opposition to health regulations that would raise industry expenses are due to his stake in the industry; West Virginia's Sierra Club chapter chair Jim Sconyers said, "he's been nothing but a mouthpiece for the coal industry his whole public life." Opinions on the subject are mixed; "The Charleston Gazette" wrote, "the prospect that Manchin's $1.7 million-plus in recent Enersystems earnings might tilt him even more strongly pro-coal might seem remote, given the deep economic and cultural connections that the industry maintains in West Virginia."


title: Joe Manchin

text: On November 14, 2011, Manchin chaired his first field hearing of that committee in Charleston, West Virginia, to focus on Marcellus Shale natural gas development and production. He said, "We are literally sitting on top of tremendous potential with the Marcellus shale. We need to work together to chart a path forward in a safe and responsible way that lets us produce energy right here in America."


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin supports building the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada. He has said, "It makes so much common sense that you want to buy oil off your friends and not your enemies." The pipeline would span over 2,000 miles across the United States.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On November 9, 2011, Manchin and Dan Coats introduced the Fair Compliance Act. The bill would "lengthen timelines and establish benchmarks for utilities to comply with two major Environmental Protection Agency air pollution rules. The legislation would extend the compliance deadline for the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, or CSAPR, by three years and the deadline for the Utility MACT rule by two years—setting both to January 1, 2017."


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin and John Barrasso introduced the American Alternative Fuels Act on May 10, 2011. The bill would remove restrictions on development of alternative fuels, repeal part of the 2007 energy bill restricting the federal government from buying alternative fuels and encourage the development of algae-based fuels and synthetic natural gas. Of the bill, Manchin said, "Our unacceptably high gas prices are hurting not only West Virginians, but all Americans, and they underscore a critical need: the federal government needs to be a partner, not an obstacle, for businesses that can transform our domestic energy resources into gas."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2011, Manchin was the only Democratic senator to support the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which sought to prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas. He was also one of four Democratic senators to vote against the Stream Protection Rule. In 2012, Manchin supported a GOP effort to "scuttle Environmental Protection Agency regulations that mandate cuts in mercury pollution and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants", while West Virginia's other senator, Jay Rockefeller, did not.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In December 2014, Manchin was one of six Democratic senators to sign a letter to the EPA urging it to give states more time to comply with its rule on power plants because the final rule "must provide adequate time for the design, permitting and construction of such large scale capital intensive infrastructure", and calling for an elimination of the 2020 targets in the final rule, a mandate that states take action by 2020 as part of the EPA's goal to reach a 30% carbon cut by 2030.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin criticized Obama's environmental regulations as a "war on coal" and demanded what he called a proper balance between the needs of the environment and the coal business. The "Los Angeles Times" wrote that while professing environmental concerns, he has consistently stood up for coal, saying "no one is going to stop using fossil fuels for a long time." Manchin "does not deny the existence of man-made climate change", the "Times" wrote, but "is reluctant to curtail it." In February 2017, he was one of two Democratic senators to vote to confirm Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. In June 2017, Manchin supported Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, saying he supported "a cleaner energy future" but that the Paris deal failed to strike "a balance between our environment and the economy."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In June 2017, Manchin introduced the Capitalizing American Storage Potential Act, legislation ensuring a regional storage hub would qualify for the Title XVII innovative technologies loan guarantee program of the Energy Department. He argued the Appalachian Storage Hub would grant West Virginia and its neighboring states the ability "to realize the unique opportunities associated with Appalachia's abundant natural gas liquids like ethane, naturally occurring geologic storage and expanding energy infrastructure" and that the regional storage hub would "attract manufacturing investment, create jobs and significantly reduce the rejection rate of natural gas liquids." The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the bill in March 2018.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2018, Manchin and Capito introduced the Electricity Reliability and Fuel Security Act, a bill providing a temporary tax credit for existing coal-fired power plants that would help cover a part of both operation and maintenance costs. Manchin said that he knew "coal-fired power" was the engine of the West Virginia economy and that "coal-fired power plants have kept the lights on when other forms of energy could not".


title: Joe Manchin

text: In July 2018, along with fellow Democrat Heidi Heitkamp and Republicans James Risch and Lamar Alexander, Manchin introduced the Recovering America's Wildlife Act, a bill that would reallocate $1.3 billion annually from energy development on federal lands and waters to the Wildlife Conservation Restoration Program intended to conserve fish and wildlife.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In February 2019, in response to reports that the EPA intended to decide against setting drinking water limits for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as part of a national strategy to manage those chemicals, Manchin was one of 20 senators to sign a letter to Acting EPA Administrator Andrew R. Wheeler calling on the EPA "to develop enforceable federal drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, as well as institute immediate actions to protect the public from contamination from additional per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)." In April 2019, he was one of three Democratic senators who voted with Republicans to confirm David Bernhardt, an oil executive, as Secretary of the Interior Department.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In February 2019, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called for a vote on the Green New Deal in order to get Democratic members of the Senate on record regarding the legislation, Manchin expressed opposition to the plan:


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2019, Manchin was one of 12 senators to sign a bipartisan letter to top senators on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development advocating that the Energy Department be granted maximum funding for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), arguing that American job growth could be stimulated through investment in viable options to capture carbon emissions and expressing disagreement with Trump's 2020 budget request to combine the two federal programs that include carbon capture research.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2019, Manchin was the only Democrat to cosponsor the Enhancing Fossil Fuel Energy Carbon Technology (EFFECT) Act, legislation intended to increase federal funding for developing carbon capture technology and simultaneously commit to fossil fuel use. In a statement, he cited the need for the United States "to lead in technological innovations designed to reduce carbon emissions" while noting that energy experts who had testified before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources had concurred on the continued use of fossil fuels through 2040. He called the bill "a critical piece of the solution addressing the climate crisis."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2019, Manchin was the lead sponsor the Land and Water Conservation Fund Permanent Funding Act, bipartisan legislation that would provide permanent and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at a level of $900 million as part of an effort to protect public lands.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In May 2019, Manchin, Lisa Murkowski and Martha McSally introduced the American Mineral Security Act, a bill that would codify current methodology that the United States used to list critical minerals and require the list to be updated at least once every three years. McSally's office also said the bill would mandate nationwide resource assessments for every critical mineral.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In September 2019, Manchin was one of eight senators to sign a bipartisan letter to congressional leadership requesting full and lasting funding of the Land and Water Conservation Act in order to aid national parks and public lands, benefit the $887 billion American outdoor recreation economy, and "ensure much-needed investment in our public lands and continuity for the state, tribal, and non-federal partners who depend on them."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In February 2021, Manchin was one of seven Democratic U.S. Senators to join Republicans in blocking a ban of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2021, Manchin opposed the "Clean Electricity Performance Program" in the reconciliation bill, leading to its removal.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In October 2021, The Guardian named Manchin one of the United States' top "climate villains", writing that he "uses his position to hold climate legislation hostage on behalf of the fossil fuel industry".


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin has co-sponsored balanced budget amendments put forth by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Mark Udall (D-CO). He has also voted against raising the federal debt ceiling.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin has expressed strong opposition to entitlement reform, describing Mitch McConnell's comments in October 2018 on the need to reform entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare as "absolutely ridiculous." In January 2019, Manchin supported both Republican and Democratic bills to end a government shutdown. He was the only Democrat to break from his party and vote in favor of the Republican proposal.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On August 1, 2019, the Senate passed a bipartisan budget deal that raised spending over current levels by $320 billion and lifted the debt ceiling for the following two years in addition to forming a course for funding the government without the perceived fiscal brinkmanship of recent years. Manchin joined Tom Carper and Republicans Mitt Romney and Rick Scott in issuing a statement asserting that "as former Governors, we were responsible for setting a budget each year that was fiscally responsible to fund our priorities. That's why today, we, as U.S. Senators, cannot bring ourselves to vote for this budget deal that does not put our country on a fiscally sustainable path."


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin is critical of American military intervention overseas, particularly in Afghanistan and Syria. He has repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and has opposed most military intervention in Syria.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On June 21, 2011, Manchin delivered a speech on the Senate floor calling for a "substantial and responsible reduction in the United States' military presence in Afghanistan." He said, "We can no longer afford to rebuild Afghanistan and America. We must choose. And I choose America." Manchin's remarks were criticized by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) as "at least uninformed about history and strategy and the challenges we face from radical Islamic extremism." Manchin made similar remarks in a press conference on January 7, 2014, arguing that "all of the money and all of the military might in the world will not change that part of the world." He said that by the end of the year, the American troops in that country should be at Bagram Airfield alone. After the deaths of three American soldiers in Afghanistan in November 2018, Manchin renewed his calls for the withdraw of American troops from the country, saying that both presidents Obama and Trump had expressed support for taking troops out of the country but had not done so. "They all seem to have the rhetoric, and no one seems to have the follow up. It's time to come out of there," he said.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin introduced legislation to reduce the use of overseas service and security contractors. He successfully amended the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act to cap contractors' taxpayer-funded salaries at $230,000.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Following the Ghouta chemical attack in August 2013 during the Syrian Civil War, Manchin said, "There is no doubt that an attack occurred and there is no doubt it was produced under the Assad regime. It's not clear cut if Assad gave the order himself. It has not been proven." He opposed any strikes on the Syrian Government in retaliation for the attacks. Instead, he introduced a joint resolution with Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) requesting that President Obama come up with a long-term strategy on Syria and work diplomatically to ensure the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. On September 16, 2014, Manchin announced that he would vote against a possible Senate resolution to arm Syrian opposition fighters. "At the end of the day, most of the arms that we give to people are used against us. Most of the people we train turn against us," he said. He referred to plans calling for ground troops in Syria, which had been proposed by some Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, as "insanity," but supported the 2017 Shayrat missile strike launched by order of President Trump in response to a chemical weapons attack allegedly perpetrated by the Syrian Government. Manchin said that "yesterday's strike was important to send a message to the Syrian regime and their Russian enablers that these horrific actions will not be tolerated."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2017, following a North Korea senior official declaring that the U.S. had created "a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any minute," Manchin stated that North Korea had "to understand that we will retaliate" and that he did not believe the U.S. would not respond if North Korea continued to play "their games." In May 2018, Manchin accused Kim Jong-un of accelerating "the nuclear threat" of North Korea in a manner that would enable him to receive concessions and that Kim Jong-un was "in a serious, serious problem with his country and the people in his country" without China.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In June 2017, Manchin was one of five Democrats who, by voting against a Senate resolution disapproving of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, ensured its failure. Potential primary opponent Paula Jean Swearengin charged that because of Manchin's vote, weapons sold to the Saudis "could possibly end up in the hands of terrorists."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In June 2017, Manchin co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S.270), which made it a federal crime, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, for Americans to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2019, Manchin and Republican Marco Rubio drafted a Middle East policy bill with provisions that rebuked President Trump over withdrawals of troops from Syria and Afghanistan and a measure authorizing state and municipal governments to punish companies after they oppose Israel via boycott, divestment or sanctions. The measure also reauthorized at least $3.3 billion for Israel's military financing in addition to extending Jordan's security aid, granting new sanctions on individuals giving their support to the Syrian government and ordering the Treasury Department to determine whether the Central Bank of Syria was money laundering. The bill passed in the Senate in a 77 to 23 vote in February 2019.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In October 2019, Manchin was one of six senators to sign a bipartisan letter to Trump calling on him to "urge Turkey to end their offensive and find a way to a peaceful resolution while supporting our Kurdish partners to ensure regional stability" and arguing that to leave Syria without installing protections for American allies would endanger both them and the US.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2012, Manchin's candidacy was endorsed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which gave him an "A" rating. Following the Sandy Hook shooting, Manchin partnered with Republican senator Pat Toomey to introduce a bill that would have strengthened background checks on gun sales. The Manchin-Toomey bill was defeated on April 17, 2013, by a vote of 54–46; 60 votes would have been required to pass it. Despite the fact that the bill did not pass, the NRA targeted Manchin in an attack ad.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin was criticized in 2013 for agreeing to an interview with "The Journal" in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but demanding that he not be asked any questions about gun control or the Second Amendment.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2016, referring to the difficulty of keeping guns out of the hands of potential terrorists in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting, Manchin said, "due process is what's killing us right now." This comment drew the criticism of both the NRA and the Cato Institute, which accused Manchin of attacking a fundamental constitutional principle. "With all respect," commented Ilya Shapiro of Cato, "due process is the essential basis of America."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In October 2017, following the Las Vegas shooting, Manchin stated that it was "going to take President Trump, who looks at something from a law-abiding gun owner's standpoint, that makes common sense and gun sense" for progress to be made on gun legislation and that he would not rule out reviving the Manchin-Toomey bill if the legislation attracted enough Republican cosponsors.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In a March 2018 interview, a month after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and shortly before the March For Our Lives demonstrations, Manchin stated that the Manchin-Toomey bill should serve as the base for a new gun control law and that Trump expressing support for background checks would set his legacy and "give Republicans enough cover to support this in the most reasonable, responsible way."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In August 2019, following two more mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, Manchin said that Trump had "a golden opportunity to start making America safe again by starting with this basic building block of background checks." Manchin also noted his disagreement with the position of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise that existing gun background check measures were sufficient, adding that even though he was "a law-abiding gun owner," he would not sell a gun through a gun show or online to someone whose history he was unsure of. On September 5 of that year, Manchin and Trump met in the White House for a discussion on gun-control legislation. According to a White House official, Trump told Manchin of his "interest in getting a result" so dialogue could resume "to see if there's a way to create a reasonable background check proposal, along with other ideas."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2010, Manchin called for "repairs" of the Affordable Care Act and repeal of the "bad parts of Obamacare." On January 14, 2017, Manchin expressed concern at the strict party-line vote on repealing Obamacare and said he could not, in good conscience, vote to repeal without a new plan in place. He added, however, that he was willing to work with Trump and the GOP to formulate a replacement. In June 2017, Manchin and Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania warned that repealing Obamacare would worsen the opioid crisis. In July 2017, he said that he was one of about ten senators from both parties who had been "working together behind the scenes" to formulate a new health-care program, but that there was otherwise insufficient bipartisanship on the issue.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In September 2017, Manchin released a statement expressing that he was skeptical of a single-payer health care system being "the right solution" while noting his support for the Senate considering "all of the options through regular order so that we can fully understand the impacts of these ideas on both our people and our economy."


title: Joe Manchin

text: During 2016–17, Manchin read to the Senate several letters from constituents about loved ones' deaths from opioids and urged his colleagues to act to prevent more deaths. Manchin took "an unusual proposal" to President Trump to address the crisis and called for a "war on drugs" that involves not punishment but treatment. He proposed the LifeBOAT Act, which would fund treatment. He also opposes marijuana legalization. In January 2018, Manchin was one of six Democrats who broke with their party to vote to confirm Trump's nominee for Health Secretary, Alex Azar.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In his 2018 reelection campaign, Manchin emphasized his support for Obamacare, running an ad where he shot holes in a lawsuit that sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In January 2019, Manchin was one of six Democratic senators to introduce the American Miners Act of 2019, a bill that would amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to swap funds in excess of the amounts needed to meet existing obligations under the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the 1974 Pension Plan as part of an effort to prevent its insolvency as a result of coal company bankruptcies and the 2008 financial crisis. It also increased the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund tax and ensured that miners affected by the 2018 coal company bankruptcies would not lose their health care.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In a May 2019 letter to Attorney General William Barr, Manchin and Republican Susan Collins wrote that the Affordable Care Act "is quite simply the law of the land, and it is the Administration's and your Department's duty to defend it" and asserted that Congress could "work together to fix legislatively the parts of the law that aren't working" without letting the position of a federal court "stand and devastate millions of seniors, young adults, women, children and working families."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In September 2019, amid discussions to prevent a government shutdown, Manchin was one of six Democratic senators to sign a letter to congressional leadership advocating for the passage of legislation that would permanently fund health care and pension benefits for retired coal miners as "families in Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, Alabama, Colorado, North Dakota and New Mexico" would start to receive notifications of health care termination by the end of the following month.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In October 2019, Manchin was one of 27 senators to sign a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer advocating the passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act, which was set to expire the following month. The senators warned that if the funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) was allowed to expire, it "would cause an estimated 2,400 site closures, 47,000 lost jobs, and threaten the health care of approximately 9 million Americans."


title: Joe Manchin

text: When Manchin and Capito announced over $3.3 million to combat child homelessness in West Virginia in October 2019, Manchin reported that there were at least 10,500 homeless children and youth in West Virginia and pledged to continue working to get financial aid for West Virginia children in his capacity as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2019, Manchin was one of 41 senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program for authorizing "HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country" and expressing disappointment that President Trump's budget "has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development." The senators wrote of their hope that the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin is opposed to the DREAM Act, and was absent from a 2010 vote on the bill. Manchin supports the construction of a wall along the southern border of the United States. He opposed the Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona over that state's immigration enforcement law. Manchin voted against the McCain-Coons proposal to create a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants without funding for a border wall and he voted against a comprehensive immigration bill proposed by Susan Collins which gave a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers as well as funding for border security; he voted 'yes' to withholding funding for 'sanctuary cities' and he voted in support of President Trump's proposal to give a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, build a border wall, and reduce legal immigration. On June 18, 2018, he came out against the Trump administration family separation policy. In September 2019, Manchin was the only Democrat on the Senate Appropriations panel to vote for a $71 billion homeland security measure that granted Trump the $5 billion he had previously requested to build roughly 200 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin has mixed ratings from political action committees opposed to illegal immigration; NumbersUSA, which seeks to reduce illegal and legal immigration, gave Manchin a 55% rating and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which also seeks to reduce legal immigration, gave him a 25% rating.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On February 4, 2021, Manchin voted against providing COVID-19 pandemic financial support to undocumented immigrants.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In response to a leaked story that the Biden administration would pursue a $3 trillion infrastructure package, Manchin appeared to support the spending, calling for an "enormous" infrastructure bill. He also expressed openness to paying for the bill by raising taxes on corporations and wealthy people, despite the fact that this would likely eliminate any possible bipartisan support.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On December 9, 2010, Manchin was the sole Democrat to vote against cloture for the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, which contained a provision to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In an interview with "The Associated Press", Manchin cited the advice of retired military chaplains as a basis for his decision to vote against repeal. He also indicated he wanted more time to "hear the full range of viewpoints from the citizens of West Virginia." A day later, he was publicly criticized at a gay rights rally for his position on the bill. On July 26, 2017, he voiced opposition to Trump's proposed ban on transgender service in the United States military.


title: Joe Manchin

text: As of 2015, Manchin was the only member of the Senate Democratic Caucus to oppose same-sex marriage. He was the only Democratic senator to not have declared support for same-sex marriage. On February 14, 2018, he cosponsored S.515, a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify that all provisions shall apply to legally married same-sex couples in the same manner as other married couples. As of March 18, 2019, he is the only member of the Senate Democratic Caucus who is not a cosponsor of the Equality Act. He has said that he believes "no one should be afraid of losing their job or losing their housing because of their sexual orientation" but does not believe the current version of the Equality Act "provides sufficient guidance to the local officials who will be responsible for implementing it." In March 2021, Manchin was the only Democrat to vote for a failed amendment to rescind funding from public schools that allow transgender youth to participate in the sporting teams of their gender identity. In November 2022, Manchin reversed his prior position and voted to advance and pass legislation, the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects same-sex marriages under federal law.


title: Joe Manchin

text: The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT rights group in America, gave Manchin a score of 48% in the 116th Congress. He received a score of 30% in the 115th Congress, 85% in the 114th Congress, and 65% in the 113th Congress.


title: Joe Manchin

text: On February 2, 2021, Manchin announced his opposition to an increase from $7.25 to $15 per hour in the federal minimum wage, but said he was open to a smaller increase, perhaps to $11. Along with seven other Democrats, Manchin opposed a $15 minimum wage proposal by Bernie Sanders as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and forced Democrats to limit extended unemployment benefits in the same bill.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In December 2017, in a letter to then-Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, Manchin called for changes in the FDA's response to the opioid crisis including mandatory and continuing education for healthcare providers, reviewing every opioid product on the market, and removing an older opioid from the market for every new opioid approved. Manchin cited the over 33,000 deaths in the United States from opioid overdoses in 2015 and over 700 deaths of West Virginians from opioid overdoses in 2016 as his reason for supporting the establishment of the Opioid Policy Steering Committee by the FDA.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2018, Manchin secured a provision in the Opioid Crisis Response Act that ensured additional opioid funding for West Virginia after the bill had previously granted funding based on states' overall opioid overdose death counts as opposed to the overdose death rate. Manchin stated that the bill before his intervention was "basically using a blanket before when giving money" and added that the bill was incentivizing "companies to do the research to produce a product that gives the same relief as the opioid does, but is not (addictive)." The bill passed in the Senate in September.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In April 2019, Manchin cosponsored the Protecting Jessica Grubb's Legacy Act, legislation that authorized medical records of patients being treated for substance use disorder being shared among healthcare providers in case the patient provided the information. Cosponsor Shelley Moore Capito stated that the bill also prevented medical providers from unintentionally providing opioids to individuals in recovery.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In May 2019, when Manchin and Capito announced $600,000 of funding for West Virginia through the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program of the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration, Manchin stated that the opioid epidemic had devastated every community in West Virginia and that as a senator "fighting against this horrible epidemic and helping fellow West Virginians have always been my top priorities."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In July 2019, Manchin issued a release in which he called for a $1.4 billion settlement from Reckitt Benckiser Group to be used for both programs and resources that would address the opioid epidemic.


title: Joe Manchin

text: To help locate missing senior citizens, Manchin introduced the Silver Alert Act in July 2011 to create a nationwide network for locating missing adults and senior citizens modeled after the AMBER Alert. Manchin also sponsored the National Yellow Dot Act to create a voluntary program that would alert emergency services personnel responding to car accidents of the availability of personal and medical information on the car's owner.


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin said in 2014 that he "would change Social Security completely. I would do it on an inflationary basis, as far as paying into payroll taxes, and change that, to keep us stabilized as far as cash flow. I'd do COLAs—I'd talk about COLA for 250 percent of poverty guidelines." Asked whether this meant he would "cut benefits to old people," Manchin said that "a rich old person... won't get the COLAs." He asked: "Do you want chained CPI? I can live with either one."


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin opposed Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He called it "a closed process" that "makes little impact in the paychecks of the people in his state." At the same time, he posited the bill contains "some good things... Initially people will benefit," although ultimately voting against it. In turn, NRSC spokesman Bob Salera stated that he had "turned his back and voted with Washington Democrats."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In March 2019, Manchin was a cosponsor of a bipartisan bill to undo a drafting error in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that mandated stores and restaurants to have to write off the costs of renovations over the course of 39 years via authorizing businesses to immediately deduct the entirety of costs of renovations.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In February 2017, Manchin and Roy Blunt introduced the HIRE Veterans Act, legislation that would recognize qualified employers if they met particular criteria designed to encourage businesses that were friendly toward veterans including calculating what new hire or overall workforce percentages contain veterans, the availability of particular types of training and leadership development opportunities, and other factors that showed commitment on the part of an employer to offer support for veterans after their military careers. The bill passed in the Senate in April, which Manchin applauded in a press release as "tremendous news" given that the bill was "one more step we can take toward making it easier for our service men and women to find opportunities for good-paying jobs."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In December 2018, Manchin was one of 21 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie calling it "appalling that the VA is not conducting oversight of its own outreach efforts" in spite of suicide prevention being the VA's highest clinical priority and requesting Wilkie "consult with experts with proven track records of successful public and mental health outreach campaigns with a particular emphasis on how those individuals measure success."


title: Joe Manchin

text: In January 2019, Manchin was one of five senators to cosponsor the VA Provider Accountability Act, a bipartisan bill meant to amend Title 38 of the United States Code to authorize the under secretary of health to report "major adverse personnel actions" related to certain health care employees at the National Practitioner Data Bank along with applicable state licensing boards. Manchin said that the VA's efforts were inadequate and called for strict guidelines to be implemented to ensure veterans "are receiving the highest quality of care, and I believe our legislation provides a fix that can be supported by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle".


title: Joe Manchin

text: In July 2019, Manchin and Republican Marsha Blackburn introduced the Providing Veterans Access to In-State Tuition Act, a bill that would remove a three-year post-discharge requirement and thereby enable student veterans eligibility to receive in-state tuition rates from public schools in the event they decide to use their Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In August 2019, when Manchin and Capito announced a collection of grants that totaled to over $7 million intended to aid homeless veterans under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program, Manchin opined that the funding would "help veterans secure housing, which in turn helps them secure steady jobs and gives them another opportunity to contribute to their communities."


title: Joe Manchin

text: On June 6, 2021, in an op-ed published in the "Charleston Gazette-Mail", Manchin expressed his opposition to the For the People Act due to its lack of bipartisan support. But he has expressed his support for a reinforced version of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and urged its passage in the Senate. Shortly thereafter, several Democratic lawmakers accused Manchin of supporting Jim Crow laws by opposing the For the People Act, a signature piece of legislation of the Democratic majority, aiming to expand voting rights, among other provisions.


title: Joe Manchin

text: The bill has universal Republican opposition, and so would require the filibuster to be eliminated in order to pass. Manchin defended his opposition to it, saying, "I think there's a lot of great things in that piece of legislation, but there's an awful lot of things that basically don't pertain directly to voting." In the op-ed, he also elaborated on his view of eliminating the filibuster: "I cannot explain strictly partisan election reform or blowing up the Senate rules to expedite one party's agenda."


title: Joe Manchin

text: Manchin is a member of the National Rifle Association and a licensed pilot. He married Gayle Heather Conelly on August 5, 1967. Together they have three children: Heather Manchin Bresch (who was chief executive officer (CEO) of Netherlands-based pharmaceutical company Mylan), Joseph IV, and Brooke.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In 2006 and 2010, Manchin delivered commencement addresses at Wheeling Jesuit University and at Davis & Elkins College, receiving honorary degrees from both institutions.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In December 2012, Manchin voiced his displeasure with MTV's new reality show "Buckwild", set in his home state's capital Charleston, and asked the network's president to cancel the show, which, he argued, depicted West Virginia in a negative, unrealistic fashion. The show ended after its first season.


title: Joe Manchin

text: In a lawsuit filed in July 2014, John Manchin II, one of Manchin's brothers, sued Manchin and his other brother, Roch Manchin, over a $1.7 million loan. The lawsuit alleged that Joe and Roch Manchin borrowed the money to keep the doors open at the family-owned carpet business run by Roch, that no part of the loan had yet been repaid, and that the defendants had taken other measures to evade compensating John Manchin II for non-payment. John Manchin II withdrew the suit on June 30, 2015.