Manchin: Republicans could have won Dem votes on tax bill ‘if they just made an effort’

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in a new interview that he and some other Democrats would have been “easy pick ups” on the GOP tax-reform bill if Republicans had “just made an effort.”

“I was an easy pick up. Very easy pick up,” Manchin told the Politico podcast Off Message.

“And I had a couple — two or three other Democrats who would have been very easy pick ups if they just made an effort.”

Manchin, a red-state Democrat who is up for his first Senate reelection next year, said such an effort could have included a working group that discussed how to tackle the national debt.

{mosads}Republicans are expected to pass a tax-reform bill this week that includes a sweeping cut to the corporate tax rate in an effort to get the legislation to President Trump’s desk before the holidays.

Manchin is up for reelection in a state that Trump won by more than 40 points in the 2016 presidential election.

During the podcast interview, Manchin criticized the legislation for providing relief and benefits to the wealthy and corporations.