Senate Budget Committee chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is signaling impatience with the White House’s efforts to cut a deal with Republicans on President Joe Biden’s sweeping infrastructure plan, which GOP lawmakers have slammed as too broad and expensive.
Sanders told Axios in a pre-taped interview that he doesn’t agree with senior White House aide Steve Ricchetti’s comment to the Washington Post that the administration has “a little more time for the consideration of this, and the percolation of these proposals, to have broader consultation and dialogue” with Republicans on the plan.
“The bottom line is the American people want results,” Sanders said.
The senator argued that the average American didn’t care whether the stimulus payments they received under Biden’s COVID-19 relief package came from a bipartisan deal or not.
“Frankly, when people got a $1,400 check or $5,600 check for their family, they didn’t say, ‘Oh, I can’t cash this check because it was done without any Republican votes,'” he told Axios.
With the Senate being “a very slow-moving process,” Democrats and the Biden administration ought to be “starting this work immediately,” Sanders said.
“If Republicans want to come on board, seriously, great. If not, we’re going to do it alone,” he added.
Biden is slated to meet with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who crafted the GOP’s $568 billion counterproposal to the president’s multi-trillion dollar infrastructure plan, along with Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) on Thursday to discuss their proposal.
The President’s negotiations with Republicans come as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) vows to put “one hundred percent” of his focus on “stopping this new administration.”
Patience, Bernie, Joe is just giving the GQP enough rope to hang themselves.
Again.
The GOP is antsy too. Their entire “policy” is to obstruct, and they know that any relief that Democrats will provide for the Amercan People will be bad for their Party.
President Biden know what he’s doing. He’s proving to Senators Manchin and Sinema the GQP is “negotiating” in bad faith. Then the bill will come up for a vote and pass once all Democrats figure it out.
One of seven quintillion reasons I am happy that Joe, not Bernie, is our president. Joe needs to be seen getting GOP support, and I believe he is actually sincere in his desire for that. But he knows where his line is. It will be progressive bill.
Sanders would have just yammered on about punishing billionaires (notice how he stopped talking about punishing millionaires when he used his campaign funds to buy his book and then became a millionaire), would have said “Fuck GOP support. But they’re not racists, Nosiree, just economically anxious! And their anxiety will go away when we pass this bill!”
And then the bill would never pass because of its high purity.
Biden will give us a bill, a good, progressive bill. It won’t make everyone left of center 100% happy, but it will be really good.
NO DOUBT they are negotiating in bad faith… But though I hope you are right about this being proof to Manchin and Sinema that they need to vote with the Ds on this… I have little faith, especially in Manchin