Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., said Thursday that he would support a one-year delay in implementing the individual mandate, the cornerstone of President Barack Obama's health care law, as part of larger budget negotiations to avert a government shutdown. “There’s no way I could not vote for it,” Manchin said at a breakfast sponsored by Bloomberg News. “It’s very reasonable and sensible.” House Republican leadership has been mulling a one-year delay in the law as one of many sweeteners for their rank-and-file members who appear unwilling to support any government funding legislation without serious concessions from Democrats. The House GOP also has considered tacking the delay to a bill to raise the debt limit. Manchin is the first Democrat to announce such a position publicly, and it can't have pleased congressional Democratic leaders or the White House, which already has said the president would not negotiate around the debt limit (or at least tried to convince themselves that that is the case). For Manchin to give this to Republicans could significantly boost their leverage in a series of negotiations this fall where they previously might not have had it. (more…)
