While Congress is in recess this week, we’ll be watching negotiations on the infrastructure bill and presenting them to you in an evening briefing. Check in here to find out how the sausage-making is shaping up.
Things change, but much stays the same. As we close out the week of congressional recess, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) continue to do their level best to gut the reconciliation package of its major programs, or to shrink those programs to a husk of their former selves.
Manchin reportedly told White House aides last week that he wouldn’t support the crux of Democrats’ climate plan in its current form, and sounded a lot like he wouldn’t support it in any form. He also told some Democrats on a call, per CNN, that he has beef with the expansion of Medicare to cover vision, hearing and dental, opposes paid family leave and medical leave proposals, rejects climate measures that would halve emissions by 2030 and is concerned about tuition-free community college. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), meanwhile, is reportedly blocking tax increases on corporations and the wealthy, one of the main ways Democrats would pay for the bill.
We’ve been waiting for weeks, months even, for indications that these two would negotiate with the rest of the Democrats. All signs indicate that they’re not. They’re listing the things they won’t vote for — and a large reconciliation package stuffed with potentially transformative programs on climate, poverty and health care seems to be on the list.
White House Says Hurry Up
- The White House is going public with its pressure on Congress to just act already. The negotiations have dragged on for a long time, and people are getting frustrated. The Biden administration wants a win.
- Key quote: “Ultimately, we can’t do this forever. We’re not doing this forever,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said of reconciliation negotiations on Pod Save America. “Time is running short. We’ve got to come to a time when we figure out what’s the best version we can get enough votes for that still has a historic impact.”
Admitting Defeat?
- One of the many things Sinema opposes is the uber popular proposal to lower Medicare prescription drug prices. At a live event in San Francisco, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sounded like that fight is close to lost.
- “We’re still making that fight,” she told San Francisco radio channel KQED. “I’m not even sure we’ll even get it in this bill. We’ll get something of that, but it won’t be the complete package that many of us have been fighting for [for] a long time.”
Bernie Continues To Be Mad
- At Manchin and Sinema:
- At reporters:
- But not at you, my faithful readers. Thanks for spending your congressional recess with us.
That dress is unfortunate as well. Someone should tell her.
This is sort of a radical solution, but Trump proved you don’t need the Senate for anything. Just cut them out completely. Appoint acting judges and officials, all the way up to the SOS and AG, just like Trump did, and make executive orders for everything. Declare an infrastructure emergency and divert military funds to infrastructure, again just like Trump did for the wall. Declare a child care emergency and divert military funds to child care. Etc etc etc. Make them sue us for a change. Anyway the courts pretty much let Trump do anything he wanted. They can be bullied into doing the same for Biden.
Checking notes to see if he missed any group in his FU statement.
Dear Joe:
Do you know AARP?
Do know any young parents?
Do you know that rocket man Jeff Bezos makes $2.25 billion a week? You don’t think that old Jeffery can hand back some more in taxes?
Play hardball. Have a vote for BBB. Let Sinema and Manchin vote no.
Pelosi shelves the BIL. What next senators Sinema and Manchin?
I agree that more Executive Orders need to be issued. But I don’t think Joe can bully the courts, Trump was bullying Federalist Society hacks owing fealty to McConnell. Joe has those same hacks who think TX Abortion law is good legislating.
Reading the article it begs the question what will Manchin support? Because what else is in that bill? Black Lung Disease support?
Maybe the message needs to go out that the Democrats are going to pull every penny for that and every other federal dollar that goes to support West Virginia BECAUSE of Manchin’s obstruction to passing these bills that his own constituents support.
And then set up the investigations of his family by the FBI and give him a choice, shut up and play ball, or get screwed every which way.
As for Sinema, I dunno, I think she’s more the horsehead in the bed kind of message recipient.