Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.V.) vision of the nation involves everyone playing for “Team America” and working together to fix Obamacare — despite his belief that the individual mandate should be delayed.
Manchin was one of the guests on ABC‘s This Week on Sunday, where he called for Washington politicians to play nice and remember they all just want the country to succeed.
“We can make this happen, but we’ve all got to be on the same team right now, which is team America, to make things happen,” the Senator said.
Manchin is the only Democrat who has spoken out in support of a delay to the penalty inflicted on Americans who don’t sign up for Obamacare — a delay he’s calling for as a result of the problems with HealthCare.gov.
Although Manchin is adamant about the delay, he was quick to point out the “good things” in the healthcare law and told host George Stephanopoulos he did not believe Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should lose her job.
He defended her remark about not working for the people calling for her resignation. Manchin affirmed her successes as a former governor and said she simply needs more time to fix the small problems with the health exchange site. Team America should believe in Sebelius.
“I think she should stay, and I think she will get the job done, and I think she needs to bring people around her — and I think she will do that,” Manchin added.
Manchin said he believes if Sebelius is removed from her position and replaced by someone who is not as familiar with the program, it could further hurt the program, more so than the issues Obamacare currently has under her leadership.
