Democratic Sen. Manchin walks back 'repeal' comments on ObamaCare

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin reportedly said this week he’d vote to repeal ObamaCare -- but on Friday walked back his comments in a statement put out by his office.

According to The Beckley Register-Herald, the West Virginia lawmaker and longtime critic of ObamaCare said Wednesday “I will vote tomorrow to repeal (ObamaCare), but I want to fix the problems in it.”

As those comments started to gain traction, Manchin’s office sent out a statement that seemed to contradict what he said.

“I have never supported repealing the Affordable Care Act because I came to Washington to find solutions to our country’s problems,” Manchin’s statement said. “We cannot go back to the days when millions of Americans were uninsured and nearly twenty percent of our GDP was spent on healthcare, while only being ranked 43rd in the world in health and wellness outcomes. “

Manchin has a long track record of criticizing ObamaCare, including raising objections to the individual mandate to buy health insurance.

He reiterated that concern in his statement on Friday.

“We should be working together to identify which parts of the law are broken and need to be fixed,” he said. “We may learn that some parts of the law can’t be repaired, and we should eliminate those parts entirely. I wasn’t here when this bill passed, and the easiest thing I could do as a Senator is to vote no on everything, but the people of West Virginia sent me here to solve problems, and I will continue to work to solve the problems in the health care bill.”

Calls to Manchin’s office for further clarification were not immediately returned.