Political positions of Joe Manchin

The political positions of Joe Manchin encompass the established political and economic positions taken by Joe Manchin, the senior United States senator from West Virginia. Manchin's positions are reflected in his voting record, public speeches, and interviews. A member of the Democratic Party until 2024 when he registered as an Independent, Manchin is characterized by his self-described moderate beliefs.

In the 117th Congress, Manchin wielded power as a swing vote amid a deadlocked Senate.

Political philosophy
Manchin is characterized as a moderate to conservative senator. His noted opposition to several issues within the Democratic Party agenda—including access to abortion, firearm regulation, and anti-business legislation—have garnered him criticism from within the party, although he has supported a majority of Joe Biden's nominations and voted with him nearly 89% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight. He has been referred to as a moderate Democrat by The Hill and Reuters Simultaneously, Politico and The Atlantic have labelled him as a conservative Democrat, a descriptor he himself uses. In August 2023, Manchin spoke to West Virginian radio personality Hoppy Kercheval to state his opposition to both parties. In the interview, he claimed that he was considering becoming an independent.

Manchin's political philosophy is marked by bipartisanship; unfettered, the agenda of the Democratic Party will not maintain the political support that he has in West Virginia. He has been described as a "blue dog", referring to a political philosophy of fiscally conservative Democrats that value working-class Americans. Manchin supported Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski's reelection bids, two moderate Republicans in the Senate. Likewise, Murkowski has endorsed Manchin. He was made an honorary co-chair of the centrist group No Labels, but stepped down in November 2014. He returned to the organization three years later with Collins.

Build Back Better Act
In November 2021, the Build Back Better Act passed the House of Representatives. Citing several factors—such as inflation, federal debt, and the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Manchin publicly opposed the bill on Fox News Sunday. Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki called his opposition to the bill a "breach of his commitments" to Democrats; Manchin had quietly presented the White House with an alternative deal comparable in size that excluded funding for housing and racial equity initiatives.

Manchin was an architect of domestic-oriented Inflation Reduction Act and co-sponsored the bill with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The deal included a total of US$700 billion for energy and climate spending, deficit reduction, subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums, prescription drug reform, and tax alterations; Manchin stated that the act would have gone farther During a state dinner at the White House, French president Emmanuel Macron accused Manchin of hurting his country, following the passage of Inflation Reduction Act.

Cryptocurrency
Manchin is an opponent to cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin. With Schumer, he sought a crackdown on Bitcoin in June 2011. In February 2014, following the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, he sent a letter to several economic figures—including then United States Department of the Treasury secretary Jack Lew, then Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, and then Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White—asking for Bitcoin to be banned.

Energy and environmental policy
In 1987, faced with a low-paying job in the West Virginia Senate and his family's struggling carpet business, Manchin assisted a Grant Town, West Virginia power plant with clearing bureaucratic hurdles. With his brother, Roch, Manchin founded the waste coal brokerage company Enersystems in 1988. Through Enersystems, Manchin provided the plant with coal refuse. He is a vocal opponent to regulation of materials.

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, consumers who purchase electric vehicles are eligible for a federal tax credit, despite Manchin describing such credits as "ludicrous". In January 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delayed implementing the tax credit to determine how to enforce the guidance in the Inflation Reduction Act. In response, Manchin introduced a bill to halt the credit until battery requirements can be introduced; the bill would also rescind some credits. He vowed to sue the Biden administration in March.

Abortion
Following Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022), a landmark decision that held that the Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion and overturned Roe v. Wade (1973), Manchin expressed disappointment. He stated that Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, who helped deliver the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization and whom he nominated in 2017 and 2018, misled him. Although he expressed hope that—despite being raised as pro-life—Republicans would restore Roe v. Wade, he joined Republicans in opposing the Women's Health Protection Act. Manchin stated that he would support a narrower bill that codified Roe v. Wade.

Donald Trump
In response to the January 6 Capitol attack, Twitter temporarily locked Donald Trump's account for 12 hours. In response, Manchin asked for Twitter to lock his account for two weeks.

Technology
Manchin has advocated for broadband in West Virginia. In December 2018, he lifted his hold on nominating Brendan Carr as the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after Carr stated his commitment to fund wireless broadband in rural areas. With 11 other legislators, he urged then-FCC chairman Ajit Pai—whom he voted for in 2017 —to crowdsource its statistics on broadband speeds in 2019. Joined by senators Angus King, Michael Bennet, and Rob Portman, he called for the Federal Communications Commission to define high-speed broadband as 100Mbps down and 100Mbps up from 25Mbps down and 3Mbps. Manchin revived the See Something, Say Something Online Act with senator John Cornyn in January 2021, an act he previously sponsored in August 2021, to require online platforms to report illegal activities—such as the sale of opioids—to law enforcement, weakening the power of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Manchin opposed Biden's nomination of Gigi Sohn as the FCC's commissioner citing her association with "far-left groups", in apparent reference to her work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.