***UPDATE***Manchin Has Denied The Claim. Manchin Reportedly Has Told Associates He's Thinking About Leaving Democratic Party

Update: Sen. Joe Manchin has denied the report from Mother Jones, calling it “bullshit.”

Manchin denies story he’s considering leaving Democratic Party: “It’s bullshit,” he told me. He added: “I have no control of rumors.”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 20, 2021

According to a report from Mother Jones, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has an exit plan to leave the Democratic party if President Joe Biden and Democrats don’t agree to his terms on the infrastructure bill. Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema have been a thorn in the side of Democrats in blocking the president’s agenda. Manchin wants to cut the size of the social infrastructure bill from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion. If that doesn’t happen, the West Virginia Democrat is considering leaving the party to become an Independent.

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“He told associates that he has a two-step plan for exiting the party,” the outlet reports. “First, he would send a letter to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, removing himself from the Democratic leadership of the Senate. (He is vice chairman of the Senate Democrats’ policy and communications committee.) Manchin hopes that would send a signal. He would then wait and see if that move had any impact on the negotiations. After about a week, he said, he would change his voter registration from Democrat to independent.”

Gee, that sounds a lot like saying, “Nice party you have there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.”

“It is unclear whether in this scenario Manchin would end up caucusing with the Democrats, which would allow them to continue to control the Senate, or side with the Republicans and place the Senate in GOP hands,” the report continues. “In either event, he would hold great sway over this half of Congress.”

According to the report, Manchin has discussed this with President Biden.

“Manchin told associates that he was prepared to initiate his exit plan earlier this week and had mentioned the possibility to Biden,” the report adds. But he was encouraged by the conversations with Sanders and top Democrats that occurred at the start of the week and did not yet see a reason to take this step. Still, he has informed associates that because he is so out of sync with the Democratic Party he believes it is likely he will leave the party by November 2022.”