Senate Democrats have started to say their goodbyes.
“Some of the happiest times I have had in the Senate were on Joe Manchin’s boat,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The New York leader recently took to the Senate floor to thank Manchin for his frolicking houseboat parties on the Potomac — always featuring a bipartisan guest list, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin made sure to mention.
“Some of the biggest accomplishments of the” Biden administration, Schumer admitted, “would not have gotten done without Joe.” Wishing farewell to the retiring West Virginia senator, Schumer called Manchin “invaluable.”
Senate Democrats showered retiring Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema with similar praise.
“Senator Sinema always made a splash and often,” colleague and Virginia Democrat Mark Warner noted, “at the end of the day, won her battles.” The senator continued: “But for all the ink spilled on Kyrsten, what I think a lot of people failed to see is her incredible ability to talk and build relationships with everyone. There have been so many times—not just on the big bills, candidly not just at the behest of Democratic leadership, but candidly on the behest of some of our Republican friends, to say this senator is being particularly challenging on this bill or on this issue. I think there was probably no one who got sent into those kind of negotiation.”