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The revelation last week of a secret deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin, which grants $ 1.5 trillion in revenue to the president’s social spending deal Biden, sparked a scramble among Democrats over whether to accept the significantly lower price or start cutting programs down.
Schumer and Manchin (DW.Va.) reportedly reached a deal in July to set a limit of $ 1.5 trillion on the bill and to start negotiating it no earlier than October 1, 2021.
News of the deal erupted as feuds between progressives and centrists reached a boiling point last week, threatening to undermine Biden’s platform and forcing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to overturn votes twice. on the $ 1.2 trillion bipartite infrastructure package.
She has set a Halloween deadline to pass the legislation.
House progressives demanded that the Senate vote on the $ 3.5 trillion spending deal before passing the bipartisan bill.
Last month, the Senate passed the bipartisan infrastructure package by 69 to 30 votes.
Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, bluntly said the level of funding would not work.
“It won’t happen,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union” of the $ 1.5 trillion figure. “It’s too small to include our priorities in it. It’s going to be somewhere between $ 1.5 and $ 3.5, and I think the White House is working on it right now because, remember, what we want to offer is childcare, paid vacation and climate change, housing.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that House Democrats have influence over moderates like Arizona’s Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema in the Senate, but said the discussion could focus on the agendas contained in the bill.
“So here’s where I think the problem is. It’s that when we talk about frontline numbers, there is a lot of stuff hidden in this discussion. And so the reason this conversation shouldn’t be about the numbers, but about the substantive programs that are ready to be shut out, ”she said on CBS News’s“ Face the Nation ”.
“But these are the conversations we need to have, because the point is, Washington’s math is notoriously funny and you can turn $ 3 trillion into $ 2 trillion, you can make a $ 3 trillion bill. dollars that helps fewer people etc. And that’s why we really need to talk about the substance of this, ”Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said.
She said progressives were fighting for Biden’s “Build Back Better” program and the universal expansion of pre-K, free community college, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as reducing carbon emissions.
To achieve their goals, AOC suggested shortening funding programs to make them unacceptable.
“I think one of the ideas out there is to fully fund what we can fully fund, but maybe instead of doing it for 10 years, you fund it fully for five years,” he said. she declared.
Cedric Richmond, a White House adviser, echoed Biden’s comments after meeting with Democrats on Capitol Hill last Friday, it doesn’t matter if it’s six minutes, six days, or six weeks they get it.
“We don’t have a deadline on this. It’s just about delivering and making sure that we deliver both bills to the American people because it meets their needs. So we are not using an artificial calendar and we are not concerned with the process. We are concerned about the delivery, ”Richmond said on“ Fox News Sunday ”.
He also said the president expects both bills to pass.
“The president wants both bills and he expects to get both bills. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker, said that they will pass both bills and we think so because we know that both bills are very popular and both meet the needs of the people at the moment ”, he declared.
“And so we’re going to keep working on both, keep our heads down and make sure we deliver,” said Richmond.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Was asked by host Chuck Todd on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” if he felt like time was wasted last week as negotiations even stuttered. if Schumer knew about Manchin’s leading issue in July.
“Well, no, that’s not correct. I mean, there have been serious negotiations going on, literally, for months now. And there is a frustration that it has taken so long. I voted for the infrastructure bill. I think it’s important that we rebuild our roads, our bridges and our water systems, ”Sanders said.
“But it’s absolutely imperative that we have a strong and comprehensive reconciliation bill that finally meets the needs of working families. So, you know, our job right now is to rally the American people to continue the negotiations. And I think at the end of the day we will pass both laws, ”he said.
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