First-term senator fed up with Congress' gridlock

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A first-term senator is complaining about congressional gridlock, saying lawmakers have "the blame game down to a science."

West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin says it's difficult to find constituents who think Congress is doing its job.

Manchin tells CBS's "The Early Show" that he failed to get President Barack Obama to intervene directly with the debt-reduction supercommittee, which closed shop last week after failing to come up with an agreement to save $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

Manchin says government leaders have to be more involved in such situations, "whether it's the president of the leaders of Congress." He says one possible way to surmount the current stalemate in Washington is to sacrifice an extension of payroll tax relief in exchange for commitments by lawmakers to overhaul the tax system.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-25-First-term%20Senator-Gridlock/id-b556a0008cf24a0f85e846d07cc4dc4b

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