Biden leans left, hints Manchin, Sinema to blame for stuck agenda

After running on the unification of a divided America, President Joe Biden acted as a peacemaker, fueling the fragile order between moderates and progressives in his fractured party.

But with a fierce standoff between the two opposing wings in a watershed week, Biden leaned to the left on Saturday suggesting that centrist Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema were to blame for the Democrats’ infrastructure fiasco.

“We can bring the moderates and the progressives together very easily if we had two more votes. Two. Two people,” Biden told reporters, taking a veiled blow against the main refractories Manchin and Sinema.

A vote on the bipartisan $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was delayed this week after Progressive and Moderate Democrats failed to reach agreement on an ambitious $ 3 spending bill. , $ 5 trillion, a crucial part of Biden’s national agenda known as the Build Back Better Act.

Manchin and Sinema refused to support the size and scope of the larger package, and progressives rebelled, saying they would not vote for the infrastructure bill unless it is passed in tandem with the expense package.

With the two factions at odds, Democrats returned to the negotiating table on Friday, Biden telling caucus it is “just the reality” that the infrastructure bill will not succeed if Manchin and Sinema do not get on board. with the biggest package. He acknowledged that reaching an agreement could take weeks.

“It doesn’t matter when. It doesn’t matter whether it’s six minutes, six days, or six weeks. We’re going to do it,” the president said.

Among the major investments, the bill on “physical infrastructure” includes the financing of roads and highways, bridges, the development of broadband, water support and airport projects. The “human” spending bill provides funding to fight climate change, expand health care and provide a free two-year community college.

After the closed-door meeting, Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Biden “was very clear that we need to get the two bills through.”

“We understand that we can’t always vote on things that we would like 100%,” the Washington Democrat said. “It’s the other people, the four percent who are blocking the president’s agenda, the Democratic agenda we’ve been running on, who have to recognize this.”

Bowing to progressives, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her caucus on Friday night that the infrastructure bill “will be passed once we have agreement on the reconciliation bill.” , dealing a further blow to the moderate wing.

Sinema, who returned home to Arizona on Friday, called Progressives guilty of delaying Biden’s agenda in a statement on Saturday.

“The failure of the US House to vote on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is inexcusable and deeply disappointing for communities in our country,” said the moderate Democrat. “Denying Americans millions of well-paying jobs, safer roads, cleaner water, more reliable electricity and better broadband only hurts everyday families.

News week contacted Manchin for comment.