With President Biden trying to walk back his apparent threat to veto the bipartisan infrastructure bill if he didn’t get a massive social spending bill (so-called “human infrastructure”) in tandem, ABC’s This Week fill-in host Jonathan Karl pressed Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Sunday to use his “leverage” to move Republicans to the left and have them support the multi-trillion-dollar expenditure.
“You get hammered all the time by fellow Democrats, especially progressives who say you are constantly drawing red lines for what you'll support and, you know, creating limits on how far Democrats will be able to go now that you control all the House, the Senate, and the White House,” Karl whined as he set up his pressure campaign.
From there, Karl implored Manchin to go against his principles and threaten to kill the filibuster in order to “draw some red lines with Republicans” instead of Democrats for a change:
What do you say to those that say why don't you draw some red lines with Republicans? Why don’t you say, unless they come around and agree to the stuff you just talked about, you know, bringing up the corporate tax rate again, some of the other issues, maybe voting rights, some of the other issues that Republicans are blocking. Why don't you draw a red line and say, “Look, if you don't move on this, I'm going to go and endorse and doing away with the filibuster?
“I mean, that's your leverage. You are the man with the leverage,” he sniped.
The bill Karl wanted Manchin to support was being written by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and it would cost an estimated $6 trillion. “I know that you've suggested that's a little rich for in terms of what you want. But what is your bottom line? How much more do you want,” Karl demanded to know.
Adding: “As you just said at the top of this, the bill that you're negotiating with the Republicans would be the biggest infrastructure bill in the history of the United States. How much more are you willing to add on top of that?”
Manchin shot down the idea by arguing that his bill was paid for and wasn’t going to add to America's already out of control debt problem. “Well, I think there’s some real questions whether or not this bill is truly paid for,” Karl shot back.
Karl’s line of questioning on the matter was kicked off by pointing out that the more radical elements of the party were not enticed by something reasonable:
KARL: But Nancy Pelosi said she's not even going to bring up your bipartisan bill unless this bigger Bernie Sanders bill also gets passed by the Senate. And listen to what -- how Elizabeth Warren described her understanding of what is going on here.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA, via soundbite): I can't vote for some small subset that, you know, the infrastructure train leaves the station and child care gets left on the platform, green energy gets left on the platform, billionaires don't have to pay gets left on the platform. It that all of the pieces have to move because ultimately, it's one deal.
“So, what is going on here? Are you sure progressives are going to support your bipartisan bill if they don't get a guarantee on something bigger also passing,” he asked.
Manchin stuck by his principles.
ABC’s pressure campaign against Senator Manchin in order to get him to move left was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Amazon and WeatherTech. Their contact information is linked so that you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s This Week
June 27, 2021
9:11:22 a.m. Eastern(…)
JONATHAN KARL: But, help me understand where Democrats exactly are on this. Because we heard President Biden announce a deal. Then we heard him say that he would only sign it if the Congress also passed a much bigger infrastructure bill, the one that Bernie Sanders is working on that he wants both in tandem and now walked that back. But Nancy Pelosi said she's not even going to bring up your bipartisan bill unless this bigger Bernie Sanders bill also gets passed by the Senate. And listen to what -- how Elizabeth Warren described her understanding of what is going on here.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA, via soundbite): I can't vote for some small subset that, you know, the infrastructure train leaves the station and child care gets left on the platform, green energy gets left on the platform, billionaires don't have to pay gets left on the platform. It that all of the pieces have to move because ultimately, it's one deal.
KARL: “It's one deal.” That's the way Elizabeth Warren sees it. It seems that's the way Nancy Pelosi sees it. So, what is going on here? Are you sure progressives are going to support your bipartisan bill if they don't get a guarantee on something bigger also passing?
(…)
9:13:45 a.m. Eastern
KARL: So, you know what Bernie Sanders is working on. He's talking about a bill that's $6 trillion. I know that you've suggested that's a little rich for in terms of what you want. But what is your bottom line? How much more do you want? As you just said at the top of this, the bill that you're negotiating with the Republicans would be the biggest infrastructure bill in the history of the United States. How much more are you willing to add on top of that?
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): Well, when you look at it, John, we paid for this. This won't be added to debt. The infrastructure bill we've done in a bipartisan way has paid for us. We used the money we had and moved money we had not used yet to make sure it was used in the most productive way. I think we've all done a good job and at that time what we have to look for and we do the next piece of legislation.
I understand the concerns. I understand the desires of everybody in my caucus and also, on the Republican caucus. I know we can work together. Look what we've done. Look what President Biden accomplished in five months. I've never seen this type of accomplishment in modern history from a president coming in and the American rescue plan $1.9 trillion. And then we do bipartisan bills on top of that; the hate crimes bill that we did 94-1. We just did the competition with China bill in a very bipartisan way.
KARL: But – but – but what is –
MANCHIN: So many good things, Jon. We can work this out.
KARL: But what's your bottom line? The question is, this is over a trillion dollars, Bernie Sanders wants 6 more trillion. How far are you willing to go?
(…)
9:16:22 a.m. Eastern
KARL: Well, I think there’s some real questions whether or not this bill is truly paid for, but let me ask you about the bigger question here. You get hammered --
MANCHIN: It should be, John.
KARL: You get hammered all the time by fellow Democrats, especially progressives who say you are constantly drawing red lines for what you'll support and, you know, creating limits on how far Democrats will be able to go now that you control all the House, the Senate, and the White House.
What do you say to those that say why don't you draw some red lines with Republicans? Why don’t you say unless they come around and agree to the stuff you just talked about, you know, bringing up the corporate tax rate again, some of the other issues, maybe voting rights, some of the other issues that Republicans are blocking. Why don't you draw a red line and say, “Look, if you don't move on this, I'm going to go and endorse and doing away with the filibuster?
I mean, that's your leverage. You are the man with the leverage.
(…)
