Joe Manchin absent for two major Senate votes

By Felicia Sonmez

When the Senate took two of its most highly anticipated votes of the lame-duck session on Saturday, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin was nowhere to be found.

Manchin, who was sworn into office last month after winning a special election for the seat of the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), was the only Senate Democrat to miss Saturday's votes on two of his party's signature pieces of legislation, the DREAM Act and the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law banning gay people from serving openly in the military.

Sen. Joe Liberman (I-Conn.), who spearheaded the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal effort, told reporters Saturday afternoon that Manchin told him he'd be out of town for "a family thing."

A Manchin spokesperson told the Charleston Gazette that the senator and his wife had "planned a holiday gathering over a year ago with all their children and grandchildren as they will not all be together on Christmas Day."

"While he regrets missing the votes, it was a family obligation that he just could not break," spokesperson Sara Payne Scarbro said. "However, he has been clear on where he stands on the issues."

Manchin's absence stood in contrast to the presence of another Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who despite a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, made it in for Saturday's votes. (Wyden is slated to undergo surgery on Monday.)

Since his arrival in the Senate last month, Manchin, who is up for reelection in 2012, has lived up to his campaign promise to "take on Washington and this administration" and work independently of national Democrats.

The Democrat who drew the ire of members of his party for a campaign ad in which he took aim (literally) at cap-and-trade legislation has voted no on a host of Democratic-sponsored bills in recent weeks.

He voted against a proposal that would have extended the Bush-era tax cuts only for the middle class and also voted no last week on a measure that would have repealed "don't ask, don't tell."

Manchin's office on Saturday released statements outlining his opposition to the DREAM Act and to repealing "don't ask, don't tell."

"While sympathetic to those who passionately support it, I cannot support the DREAM Act, as is, at this time," Manchin said. "I strongly believe the DREAM Act should require the completion of a degree. As currently written, the legislation does not."

On "don't ask, don't tell," Manchin said that he'd "spoken with many passionate West Virginians who hold different views on this policy" but reiterated his concerns over the timing of repeal.

"As such, while I believe the DADT policy will be repealed, and probably should be repealed in the near future, I cannot support a repeal of the policy at this time," Manchin said.