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Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., reiterated his call on Sunday for a strategic break on the $ 3.5 trillion budget resolution, while Sen. Bernie sanders, I-Vt., Doubled the need to pass both bipartisan infrastructure and budget reconciliation bills.
“The urgency – I don’t understand why we can’t take the time to deliberate on this and work,” Manchin told ABC “This Week” presenter George Stephanopoulos.
Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told Stephanopoulos he believes both bills will pass.
“I think we’re going to be fine, but it would be a terrible, terrible shame on the American people if both bills went down,” Sanders said in an interview that followed Manchin.
Budget resolution calls for investments in climate change policy, child care and other social programs, and its scope is broader than the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes measures to improve the country’s physical infrastructure. The tentative deadline for Senate committees to turn over their bills to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sanders is Wednesday.
Manchin argued that there was no need to adopt a budget package as early as next week.
“No one is saying they are losing their benefits because they are going to extend until next year,” Manchin said. “Why are we rushing for this week?” “
The moderate Democrat wrote on Thursday a editorial in the Wall Street Journal calling for a “strategic pause” on the budget resolution, Democrats took the first step by passing last month.
Stephanopoulos asked Manchin if he was concerned about delaying the bipartisan infrastructure bill if he voted against the economic bill. Manchin said he “respectfully disagrees” with Sanders.
“I never thought that the goals of our – the progress we’re making in legislation was basically to take one hostage over the other,” Manchin replied. “You have a bipartisan bill in the most toxic atmosphere we have ever had politically.”
“If you don’t need to fix any bridges or roads in your state, I do it in West Virginia,” Manchin added. “I have all the issues that we addressed in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and this is the one with the urgency.”
Asked to respond directly to Manchin’s argument that Democrats should not hold the infrastructure package hostage to the reconciliation bill, Sanders told Stephanopoulos “the reverse is true, that maybe Senator Manchin is holding the reconciliation bill hostage. “
“I think Joe Manchin is right, the physical infrastructure is extremely important,” Sanders said. “But I think the needs of human beings in our country, of working families, of children, of the elderly, of the poor are even greater, and we can and must do both.”
Stephanopoulos pressed Manchin on his ideal price for the bill.
“What’s your bottom line? How long should the break last? And what would you accept most in a final reconciliation bill? »Asked Stephanopoulos.
In response, Manchin only said he voted to use reconciliation, a way for Congress to adjust budgets, including through tax spending, as he was opposed to the 2017 tax cuts put in place. work under the Trump administration.
“I voted for reconciliation because I believed the 2017 tax codes were focused on the high-end rich,” Manchin said. “I thought we needed to make some adjustments, but I’m not going to make any adjustments on how much I want to spend.”
“I’m going to make the tax adjustments on what I think keeps us competitive, looking at world rates, looking at the things we do, making sure the rich pay, making sure all companies pay something for the privilege of doing business in America, ”Manchin added.
Sanders highlighted the scope of the reconciliation bill, arguing that polls have shown it is now time for Congress to address these challenges by passing the two bills.
“Working families cannot afford to babysit their children, young people cannot afford to go to college,” Sanders said. “And then on top of all that, the scientific community tells us that we are considering a cataclysmic crisis in terms of climate, Oregon is burning, California is burning. “
“I think we can do all of this,” Sanders added. “We can do the physical infrastructure. We can do the reconciliation bill, create millions of good jobs, and finally tell the American people that we are going to stand up for working families.”
Stephanopoulos pressured Sanders over the slim Democratic majority in the Senate.
“There is no margin for error in the Senate. If you vote against it does not work. If Senator Manchin votes against it does not work. I mean – then you probably are, if you both stick to your positions, you will end up with nothing, ”said Stephanopoulos.
“It’s a possibility, and I think it would be a disaster for the American people,” Sanders replied. “But you have the President of the United States, you have the leadership in the House and the Senate… you know, it’s not Joe Manchin versus Bernie Sanders.”
Sanders added that the “real danger” is that the infrastructure bill will not pass the House, as some progressive Democrats have pledged not to vote for him unless the budget bill is also passed. on the table.
Ultimately, Sanders said he was optimistic about the prospects for the bills, highlighting the successful passage of the US bailout, with Biden’s first major legislative victory awarding $ 1.9 trillion in stimulus payments. and economic aid against coronaviruses.
“We’ve worked together (on the US bailout), we’ve done it, and I think we’re going to do it again,” Sanders said.
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