Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Tuesday said he "absolutely" thinks Congress will swiftly pass debt ceiling legislation hammered out by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Joe Biden — despite gripes from both sides of the aisle.
In an interview on a "Talkline" podcast with host Hoppy Kercheval, Manchin defended the compromise that includes funding for the stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline to deliver natural gas from West Virginia into the Southeast.
Manchin has argued the pipeline will lower energy costs for the United States and West Virginia.
"If you're looking for a reason to be against something in Washington, you can always find something saying that wasn't good enough, didn't go far enough," Manchin said.
His remarks start around the 11-minute mark in the broadcast.
"The bottom line is we cannot have the threat of a default for the sake of our economy."
Biden and McCarthy announced Saturday they'd reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, along with several compromises on policies aimed at curbing spending.
As part of the bipartisan deal, they agreed to raise the debt limit for two years, beef up work requirements on certain federal assistance programs, impose budget caps and claw back billions in unobligated COVID funds.
In his Tuesday remarks, Manchin defended the inclusion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in the funding mix.
Fellow Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., had opposed it — and a Kaine spokesperson told The Hill the move would bypass "the normal judicial and administrative review process every other energy project has to go through.
"This provision is completely unrelated to the debt ceiling matter. He plans to file an amendment to remove this harmful Mountain Valley Pipeline provision," the spokesperson added.
During his podcast remarks, Manchin pushed back.
"I respectfully disagree with him," he said of Kaine's disapproval, arguing "there's not been a pipeline that has ever been suggested or possibly built in America that has ever gone through the scrutiny that the MVP has."
"The product is needed in America," Manchin insisted.