During transitions of power, it’s easy to fixate on a new administration’s nominees and legislative agenda while losing sight of those exiting the political stage. But as the new Congress begins today, we shouldn’t ignore the significant contributions of outgoing Senator Joe Manchin (I., W.Va.), a stalwart advocate of work over welfare dependency — even when doing so required crossing swords with the most powerful members of his own party.

Manchin, 77, a lifelong Democrat before becoming an independent in mid-2024, is retiring after 14 years as a key swing vote in the Senate. Senator Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) praised him as a consensus seeker who helped to achieve “bipartisan legislation that we are so proud of in these past two Senates.” But Manchin also provided the deciding vote for — and, even more important, against — partisan legislation that will forever define President Joe Biden’s legacy.

Here’s the story: In response to Covid, President Joe Biden and congressional Democratic leaders crafted a massive pandemic spending bill in March 2021. The bill included a third round of federal stimulus checks, a temporary extension of expanded unemployment benefits, and an unprecedented, but also temporary, expansion in the child tax credit.

No Republicans supported the legislation, which meant it required unanimous Democratic support for it to pass. Manchin opposed its anti-work features, but faced “insane” pressure from Biden to support it. After negotiating changes to the legislation’s expanded unemployment benefits, Manchin provided the decisive vote needed for it to pass.

But as Covid continued to recede, Biden and Democratic Party leaders tried to double down by making key temporary stimulus benefits permanent. Manchin said no, and did so with special emphasis on policies undermining the incentive to work.

The stimulus law provided child tax credit checks from the IRS to nonworking adults for the first time. It also gave nonworking adults the same large monthly benefit that working parents received — temporarily eliminating the program’s longstanding work requirement and work incentive features. Liberal backers swiftly hailed the repeal of the work requirement that Bill Clinton signed into law a generation before. As a Washington Post opinion column headline put it, “Goodbye, Clinton welfare reform. Hello, child tax credit.”

But under the stimulus law, those changes applied only in 2021. When President Biden’s subsequent Build Back Better proposal called for continuing the welfare expansion while eliminating the child tax credit’s work requirement forever, Manchin drew a red line.

Explaining his objections, he said: “There’s no work requirements whatsoever. . . . Don’t you think, if we’re going to help children, that the people should make some effort?” Lacking Manchin’s support, Build Back Better collapsed and the child tax credit returned to former policy — work requirement and work incentives included. Our AEI colleagues confirmed the wisdom of Manchin’s position, finding the new universal basic income for parents, if continued, would ultimately cause 1.5 million workers to exit the labor force.

In his December 3 farewell address, Manchin highlighted his career-long focus on the importance of work. The American dream, he said, is “about freedom, opportunity, and the belief that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can build a good life.” He added that “able-bodied people who fall on hard times don’t need a continuous handout but a hand-up to get back in life’s game.” And echoing Ronald Reagan, he said, “I believe the greatest gift you can give someone when they’re struggling is a job. It’s not just about earning a paycheck — it’s about dignity, purpose, and hope that go with it.”

Washington needs more Joe Manchins. Our country would be better off if more legislators focused on promoting work instead of government benefit collection, regardless of the political fallout. That bipartisan formula led to rising earnings and household incomes and plunging dependence and poverty in recent decades. Even liberal Senator Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) seems to be getting the message, as he said people don’t want their economic troubles “solved just by the government writing them a check.”

Joe Manchin’s career confirms that logic and proves that traditional American values like hard work, and putting policy over party, still matter. Thanks, Senator Manchin, for reminding us of those simple and enduring truths.

Robert Doar is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, where Matt Weidinger is a senior fellow and Rowe Scholar in opportunity and mobility studies.