Senator Manchin hosts Community Town Hall in Berkeley Springs

Senator Joe Manchin speaks with Berkeley Springs residents on Friday. (Photo by Elias McMillan)
Senator Joe Manchin speaks with Berkeley Springs residents on Friday. (Photo by Elias McMillan)

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — Off the heels of a visit to the White House yesterday where President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency, Senator Joe Manchin toured the Eastern Panhandle Friday, holding a community town hall in Berkeley Springs.

Over 100 people gathered at the Country Inn on South Washington Street to speak with the Senator. Manchin hit on a number of topics before taking questions from those in attendance. He commented on the budget plan that was passed by the House Thursday by a vote. Manchin, who voted against the plan, said “If I can’t go home and explain it, I won’t vote for it.”

The Senator told WEPM News that the town hall discussion created a great forum for the people to express their issues for him to relay to the Capital.

“Tell me what your number one concerns are,” said Manchin. “How can I help you? How can I take it back to Washington and say ‘This is the people in West Virginia and the biggest concerns we have. This is what we’re trying to achieve. This is what we need help and assistance for.'”

The Senator also discussed the nation’s debt, healthcare, natural gas pipelines, and divisiveness in politics. Manchin said that he is working on “finding commonality” in Washington saying “For some reason we want to fight each other while ignoring how great we have it in this country.”