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As the House prepares to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki asked if President Biden was in charge of the negotiations while the Progressives and moderate Democrats continue to fight.
At Thursday’s daily press conference, Psaki was asked if Biden had “lost control of his party at all …[because] some people say it seems like the progressives are running the show, they band together and make their orders. Other people say Joe Manchin is playing the role of president – so who’s in charge? “
“Well, that’s the way democracy works,” Psaki said, before resorting to criticism from the previous administration. “I know it sounds foreign because not much has happened in the past two years, but how it works is that the American people elect their elected officials, the President of the United States presents a bold and ambitious proposal, and then everyone negotiates about it.
“They have different points of view, this is how democracy should work. We’re in the middle of it right now, ”she continued. “We’re not trying to paint how messy it looks from the outside, we know that. But the good news is that there is agreement that among most Democrats – if not all of them – that we need to do something about it.
“Now we are down to the smallest detail, which is very important, but this is the final step in this process,” she added later. “And the American people should know that this is what the president is working on.”
Psaki’s comments come the same day the House is set to vote on the infrastructure bill, although it is not yet known what the outcome will be.
Progressive lawmakers have pledged to vote against the infrastructure deal if a massive $ 3.5 trillion reconciliation package is not passed first.
Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) Said her caucus had enough votes to defeat the bill and had previously called in moderate Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) And Joe Manchin ( DW.V.) – both have had several meetings with the White House – to provide a leading issue for the reconciliation bill.
A Politico report on Thursday revealed that Manchin had told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that he would only support the reconciliation bill at a cost of $ 1.5 trillion earlier this summer.
At the end of July, Manchin and Schumer (D-NY) reached an agreement to start the debate on budget reconciliation “no earlier than October 1, 2021”, with a turnover of 1.5 trillion dollars, according to a copy. of the agreement.
Manchin spoke to reporters on Thursday, sticking to that number.
“As you’ve seen, I think now 1.5 has always been about, from my heart, basically [as] what we could do and not jeopardize – not jeopardize our economy, ”he said.
Manchin has revealed that he is concerned that the current multibillion-dollar pair of infrastructure bills could hurt the economy and increase inflation in the “geopolitical fallout” of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I’ll give you a perfect example in West Virginia. I just saw today where Dollar General is no longer a dollar. It’s a dollar and a quarter or a dollar and 50 cents. It’s tough for West Virginia, a lot of people are shopping there and that’s all we’ve got, ”he said.
Manchin revealed that he gave Biden that frontline number “within the last week or so,” but Psaki has not confirmed any specific negotiations between the president and the senator.
This week it was unclear whether the vote on the infrastructure bill would take place and on Wednesday several lawmakers from both parties told the Post they believed the infrastructure bill would not be submitted. to a House vote, offering at least a temporary victory for Democrats. progressive wing.
However, on Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted she was confident the vote would proceed as scheduled.
“We are on the right track to win the vote and I don’t even want to consider options other than that,” she told reporters.
During the briefing, Psaki was asked about the president’s message to Republican senators who voted to pass the bipartisan bill “on its merits” but argue it should not be linked to the reconciliation package.
“Well, if we are working for a win here and a win, if it doesn’t go through, it’s because he doesn’t have enough votes. I think Republicans in the Senate understand this and know how this process works, but that’s what we’re working towards.
“Now that’s what the president made phone calls about, that’s why we have his schedule cleared for this afternoon, and I’m not going to predict what the outcome will look like in several hours. . ”
Responding to Manchin’s frontline, Jayapal reiterated his vow to abide by “the president’s entire agenda”, adding that they had pledged to work over the weekend to secure a deal.
When asked if the president would be prepared to make the same pledge, Psaki fell back on “hour-by-hour” negotiations, but said Biden was available.
“We are open, he is available,” she said. “He’s been making calls this morning, he’s open to visitors, he’s open to travel, but we’re going to be making those decisions hour by hour, so the weekend is a bit far away.”
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