Sense. Joe Manchin
Joe ManchinOvernight Energy & Environment – Democrats detail clean electricity program On The Money – Biden launches vaccine crackdown Medicare administrators sound alarm, but progressives continue with irresponsible expansion of Medicare MORE (DW.Va.) i Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders, David Sirota: Pharmaceuticals Will Try to Make Medicare Proposal As Limited as Possible Medicare Counselors Sound Alarm, But Progressives Continue with Irresponsible Medicare Expansion The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook (I-Vt.) They are heading for a confrontation President Biden
Kentucky State Lawmakers Vote to Reject School Mask Warrant Arkansas Governor Turns Back Against Biden Vaccine Warrant RNC vows to sue for Biden vaccine, proving warrant MOREThe $ 3.5 trillion spending plan as they draw red lines around their legislative priorities.
The two veteran lawmakers are at opposite ends of the Senate Democratic group, with no close working relationship and some high-profile public divisions in their past.
But the White House and Democratic leaders will have to figure out a way to bring them together and meet their conflicting demands or suffer a massive defeat of the party’s main goals.
“They really reflect each other in terms of representing different purposes of the democratic coalition. … They’re kind of like two-wing avatars of the Democratic Party,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne.
Asked about the relationship between the two, a former aide to Manchin added: “There is no relationship. … They don’t talk. “
While the physical distance between Manchin and Sanders is quite small (they sit at a desk next to each other on the Senate floor), they are almost polar opposites when it comes to politics and personality.
Manchin, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010, is the most conservative member of the Democratic group and an old-school man known for his willingness to try to cut deals, cross party lines and make friends with almost anyone. person.
Meanwhile, Sanders has launched himself as an antagonist for the Washington establishment and has cultivated an image, which he has mocked, as grumpy. But he has turned Sanders into a loner, spending nearly 15 years in the Senate further to the left than most of his fellow Democrats and watching as they and the party base had moved more in his direction.
“Bernie is really very, very socialist. It really is and it doesn’t make any bones out of it. I know where we come from. I know who he is. And I respect that, ”Manchin said of his partner during an event in West Virginia earlier this month.
Jim Manley, a longtime Democrat strategist and aide-de-camp who worked for the majority leader Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid: Harry Reid renews filibuster abolition bill: “We need to get the Senate working again” White House says ball is in Congressional court on voting rights, abortion Biden faces two MORE crises (D-Nev.), He said that one of the keys to understanding Sanders is that he draws lines in the sand, points out positions. But in the end, he is not the kind of man who will stand up and block something for the sake of obstructionism. ”
“He never blinded the Democratic leadership,” Manley said of Sanders, whom he also called “a team player.”
There have been many skirmishes between Manchin and Sanders over the years.
Manchin supporters quickly point to a photo Sanders ’wife, Jane Sanders, took at a conference in 2017 with Manchin’s main opponent, Paula Jean Swearengin. Manchin, two years later, promised that he would “absolutely” not support Sanders if he were the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020.
During a caucus call late last year, they faced the size of a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks. They were also on opposite sides of the fight for the minimum wage earlier this year: Sanders led the Senate push for a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour, while Manchin wanted $ 11 per hour adjusted for inflation. .
Most recently, Sanders warned during a MSNBC interview in April that he was “absolutely willing” to travel to West Virginia to defend progressive priorities. And he noted frustration with the hyperfocalization of his moderate colleagues two months later, saying he was “tired of talking on Mr. Manchin and Mrs. Sinema “.
Under a Republican-controlled Senate, the two met in opposite directions almost as often as they have agreed. According to them, they voted together only 52% of the time in the 116th Congress data from ProPublica.
But they’ve been more on the same page this year, voting together 86% of the time, probably a byproduct of Democrats returning to the majority.
However, tensions over the $ 3.5 trillion spending package have been on the rise for weeks after the two senators met for an unannounced impromptu meeting on the Senate floor the day before the House approved. a $ 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that Manchin helped negotiate.
Sanders, according to Manchin, warned he could kill the bill by ordering the house’s progressives. And he wanted to know if Manchin would support the $ 3.5 trillion spending package that would consolidate Sanders ’legislative legacy.
“I said ‘hell no, Bernie, I’m not voting three and a half trillion.’ He says … ‘Well, at least you’re honest with me,'” Manchin told a West Virginia event recently, adding that he was willing to work with “Sanders.
Sanders sets his own goals, arguing that progressives have already committed and that $ 3.5 trillion is the floor, not the ceiling, for how the big Democrats should go.
“This bill, which exceeds $ 3.5 trillion, is already a major commitment,” Sanders told reporters, who asked about Manchin’s push to shrink. “At least that bill should contain $ 3.5 trillion.”
But in a 50-50 Senate, Biden and Democrats need the support of both senators to avoid a massive legislative failure that activists warn would chase the party into next year’s midterm elections.
“If we don’t pass a bill, with so many popular articles, we would be shooting in the 2022 election,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which supports the $ 3.5 trillion plan. “It is bad practice not to pass this bill.”
Manchin’s goal is about a trillion-dollar bill that has already been passed by the Senate. He urges House Democrats to send him to the Biden counter as soon as possible and no later than Sept. 27, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiMerriam-Webster’s partisanship is shown, once again, with its latest definition: the GOP leader is leading the fight for a majority vote in the Supreme Court in a new poll that supports Manchin’s “pause” in the .5T MORE expense plan (D-California) has said it will go to the polls.
He has also raised a number of concerns about the all-democratic package, which was illuminated by a budget resolution that Sanders helped lead, and that Manchin voted for.
In addition to questioning some of the goals of climate change and proposing payments, in addition to raising the idea of using revenue-based evidence to benefit the bill, Manchin provoked progressive anger when he called for a “pause” in legislation and reiterated
its concerns about the $ 3.5 trillion price and national debt. Axios reported that Manchin is only willing to go up to $ 1.5 trillion.
Manchin’s office declined to comment on the Axios report, but the figure is in line with the $ 1 trillion to $ 2 trillion he suggested earlier this year.
Reducing the cost of Manchin’s preferred range would mean a sharp cut in a spending package that progressives see as crucial to meeting the party’s list of priorities. While Democrats continue to remove the legislative text, the measure is expected to hit long-term goals. including immigration reform, the fight against climate change, and the expansion of programs related to child care, Medicare, and education.
Progressives have rejected suggestions to cut the bill or reduce it from $ 3.5 trillion, after Sanders initially earned $ 6 trillion. And they warn they could collapse Manchin’s $ 1 trillion bipartisan deal if the bill’s important provisions are cut.
“Nothing would give me more pleasure than closing a millionaire, dark money, fossil fuels,” the Exxon lobbyist wrote, a bill for “energy” infrastructure if they come after our childcare priorities and climate “, rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ocasio-Cortez fires back after Palin labels her as a “fake feminist”: “Call 1-800 CRY NOW” Biden and AOC’s reckless spending plans are a threat to the planet Democrats arrive in the chronicle to approve the agenda of Biden MORE (DN.Y.) dit.
Sanders is now working to defend the Democratic-only package by visiting two red states, Iowa and Indiana, and holding a handful of town halls in Vermont, where he spoke about the importance of the bill.
He is also making channels with House Progressives, including the President of Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal
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But Democrats in Congress and the White House are optimistic that everyone is on the same page: they will contest Manchin, Sanders and the other 48 members of their Senate on board.
“There are some in my group who think $ 3.5 trillion is too much, there are some in my group who think they are too few,” the Senate Majority Leader said Charles Schumer
Chuck SchumerRetail Group Supports Minimum Corporate Tax and Increases IRS Enforcement House Democrats define plan for transition to clean electricity. (DN.Y.) told reporters during a conference call. “We’ll all get together to do something big.”