“[email protected] - thanks for recognizing we need a drug czar who has seen the devastating effects of the problem," Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Manchin thanks Trump after drug czar pick withdraws

Sen. Joe Manchin on Tuesday thanked Donald Trump after the president announced Rep. Tom Marino withdrew his nomination as the nation’s next drug czar.

“[email protected] - thanks for recognizing we need a drug czar who has seen the devastating effects of the problem," the West Virginia Democrat tweeted. "I look forward to working with @realDonaldTrump to find a drug czar that will serve #WV and our entire country."


Earlier on Tuesday, Manchin said he intended to stop Marino from becoming the nation’s drug czar, telling CNN that “over my dead body” will the Pennsylvania lawmaker be confirmed to the post.

The White House announced last month that President Donald Trump would nominate Marino (R-Pa.) to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, an appointment that appears uncertain now in the wake of reporting from CBS News and The Washington Post that Marino championed legislation that hamstrung DEA efforts to combat opioid abuse.

“He is not going to be -- over my dead body will he be the drug czar,” Manchin (D-W.Va.) said of Marino on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday. “That is not the person that a person from West Virginia can look at this man, being the drug czar, a person that basically weakened it and allowed hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people get killed. This is wrong. And I'm sure when the president sees this, adjustments will be made.”

The legislation backed by Marino, the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, made it essentially impossible for the DEA to freeze suspicious narcotics shipments from drug companies. The bill had been backed by pharmaceutical industry lobbyists and opposed by the DEA.

Trump, at a press conference Monday in the White House’s Rose Garden, said he had seen the CBS and Post reporting and that “we're going to be looking into Tom.” The president also teased a “major announcement probably next week on the drug crisis and on the opioid massive problem.”

Manchin, who on Monday sent a letter to Trump asking that Marino’s name be removed from consideration for the drug czar position, said that Congress would move to repeal the law championed by the Pennsylvania Republican. The West Virginia senator said he was “outraged” by the bill, which he said had been “greased” and camouflaged so as to avoid any dissent and easily pass through the Senate.

West Virginia has been hard-hit by the opioid crisis and reportedly has one of the highest overdose rates in the country.

“We're all outraged. How can this happen? My entire staff, you think I haven't berated them?” Manchin said. “We've got to repeal the bill. We've got to repeal that portion of the bill, degut it, if you will... We're going to do that and also we have to have someone who is passionate and Congressman Marino is not that person.”