The way in which Senator Joe Manchin III tells it, the senatorial bashes he hosted on his beloved houseboat Virtually Heaven have been so good they may encourage essentially the most liberal of Democrats and essentially the most conservative of Republicans to begin writing bills collectively.
Take the time he invited a bunch together with Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for a cruise down the Potomac. When Mr. Harkin, a prairie populist who has since retired, noticed Mr. Cruz, a right-wing firebrand, strolling down the boat’s ramp, Mr. Manchin recalled, the Iowan balked. “I don’t think I can do this,” he quoted Mr. Harkin saying. “I don’t think we can be on the same boat.”
However quickly sufficient, the Iowan and Texan bought to speaking. And by the following day, Mr. Manchin mentioned throughout his ultimate speech on the Senate ground, the unlikely pair had began collaborating on amendments.
“A lot of things happened on the boat,” mentioned Mr. Manchin, impartial of West Virginia, eliciting laughs from the handfuls of senators and spectators gathered within the chamber just lately. “That’s just the power of sitting down and getting to know each other.”
His remarks have been a part of a time-honored Senate ritual that’s unfolding within the ultimate days of Congress as lawmakers wind down their legislative work for the yr. Departing senators — those that, like Mr. Manchin, are voluntarily retiring in addition to those that misplaced their re-election bids final month — take to the ground for one ultimate farewell tackle. Akin to an office-party goodbye, solely these are delivered on the Capitol and televised reside on C-SPAN.
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