
Manchin says he offered to become independent if he became a "problem" for Democrats
CBSN
Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said Thursday he had offered to drop his formal affiliation with the Democratic Party and instead be independent if he were causing a "problem" for the caucus.
He was asked by reporters at the Capitol about a report that he had threatened to leave the party if his demands weren't met on the social spending bill under negotiation by moderate and progressive Democrats.
"No," he said. But he disclosed a conversation in which he said that if he were ever "an embarrassment" to Democratic colleagues and the president, if "me being a moderate centrist Democrat if that causes you a problem, let me know, and I'd switch to be an independent, but I'd still be caucusing with Democrats."

Washington — The Senate this week is taking up the massive budget package containing President Trump's second-term agenda, a measure that squeaked through the House with a one-vote margin, solely with Republican votes. Its path through the Senate seems destined to be similarly narrow, with the package almost certain to be revised, since parts of it are opposed by a handful of GOP senators critical to its passage.

This year, WorldPride is coming to Washington, D.C. A series of events, organized by the nonprofit InterPride, aims to bring visibility and awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues to an international stage. This year's location is leaving the community conflicted about showing up to the nation's capital amid an administration that has targeted them.

A suspect is in custody after what the FBI is calling a "targeted act of violence" at Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday. We are saddened and heartbroken to learn that an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza. My thoughts are with those injured and impacted by today's attack against a group that meets weekly on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall to call for the release of the hostages in Gaza.