Manchin says he's on board with Democratic-only infrastructure bill

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said on Tuesday that he's supportive of going forward with a larger, Democratic-only infrastructure bill, but that it shouldn't be linked to a separate bipartisan framework.

Manchin, during an interview with MSNBC, said that he had been assuming since "day one" that Democrats would have to use reconciliation, a budget process that allows them to bypass a 60-vote legislative filibuster, to pass a larger infrastructure bill because Republicans don't want to make changes to the 2017 tax bill.

“We're going to have to work it through reconciliation, which I’ve agreed that that can be done. I just haven’t agreed on the amount, because I haven’t seen everything that everyone is wanting to put in the bill," Manchin said on MSNBC.

Manchin added that the Senate can "go through the process" on putting together a larger package that includes so-called "human infrastructure" knowing that Democrats will "probably have to go to reconciliation and then do what we can afford to do."

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/560686-manchin-says-hes-on-board-with-democratic-only-infrastructure-bill

[mpcamb]

1. Weeks of time and energy wasted on this prima donna.

[Martin68]

14. Yes, some time was wasted, but it might have been worth exposing the GOP's refusal to engage

in bipartisan negotiation for even the dimmest bulb to see.

[Marthe48]

2. Joe, we can't afford not to

When r's control power, even the sky is not a limit if they want to spend money. Dems get control and it poor me, poor us, we can't afford that.

You have to spend money to make money. When we have people sleeping under brdiges, children neglected and hungry, buildings falling down, bridges collapsing and roads buckling, it is no advertisement for Camelot.

[patphil]

3. We have to remember that this is a political process.

In such processes, the trip from point A to point B is almost never a straight line. Each politician interprets the map differently, so congress drives around and around and around for weeks or months or longer, looking for that elusive passage to the end point on the President's desk.
Of course some members of the opposition just want to run the bill into the ditch, and we can't let that happen.
It's good that Manchin is finally coming around...maybe now he can just let Schumer do the driving and we can get this bill passed. I know we are all tired of this process.
I know I just want to see this bill, and the voting protection bills passed by whatever means possible.
It's time to make it happen!

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. And so I say to Sen. Sinema: The Cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone

The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell
The farmer takes a wife
The farmer takes a wife
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer takes a wife
The wife takes the child
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The wife takes the child
The child takes the nurse
The child takes the nurse
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The child takes the nurse
The nurse takes the cow
The nurse takes the cow
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The nurse takes the cow
The cow takes the dog
The cow takes the dog
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cow takes the dog
The dog takes the cat
The dog takes the cat
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The dog takes the cat
The cat takes the mouse
The cat takes the mouse
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cat takes the mouse
The mouse takes the cheese
The mouse takes the cheese
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The mouse takes the cheese
The cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cheese stands alone

[AZLD4Candidate]

12. She's a real Nowhere Man, sitting in her nowhere land, making all her nowhere plans for nobody

Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where she's going to, Isn't she a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man, please listen, You don't know what you're missing, Nowhere Man, the world is at your command

She's as blind as she can be, Just sees what she wants to see, Nowhere Man can you see me at all?

Nowhere Man, don't worry, Take your time, don't hurry, Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand

Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to, Isn't she a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man, please listen, You don't know what you're missing, Nowhere Man, the world is at your command

She's a real Nowhere Man, Sitting in her nowhere land, Making all her nowhere plans for nobody
Making all her nowhere plans for nobody, Making all her nowhere plans for nobody

Or, if you like Paul more:

Day after day, alone on a hill, The woman with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know her, They can see that she's just a fool, And she never gives an answer

But the fool on the hill, Sees the sun going down, And the eyes in her head, See the world spinning 'round

Well on the way, head in a cloud, The woman of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears her, Or the sound she appears to make, And she never seems to notice

But the fool on the hill, Sees the sun going down, And the eyes in her head, See the world spinning 'round

And nobody seems to like her, They can tell what she wants to do, And she never shows her feelings

But the fool on the hill, Sees the sun going down, And the eyes in her head, See the world spinning 'round

She never listens to them, She knows that they're the fools, They don't like her

The fool on the hill, Sees the sun going down, And the eyes in her head, See the world spinning 'round

[Mike Nelson]

5. I see...

... what Biden and Manchin are doing, and I approve. They are portraying the Democratic Party as a group that can get things done for the American people. And, they are not the party of Socialist Communism, as portrayed by the Republicans. Let's make these bills pass!

[Budi]

7. K & R Thank You!

Agree.
This ain't Joe & Joe's 1st rodeo with the Repubs.
There's a method to the seeming madness.

👍💙

[Bayard]

6. He's hedging

"I just haven’t agreed on the amount," Translation: I'm still going to mess with this.

[Pas-de-Calais]

8. Bovine Excretement!!

[Icono Classless Jerk]

9. But what of the Sinful One?

[lark]

10. Not perfect news, but this will move us forward.

Sadly, we are missing an opportunity for true transformation, but this is sure better than a stick in the eye which I had been expecting from him.

[sakabatou]

11. Talk is cheap

[monkeyman1]

13. just forget the republican party ! for them ,the party is over !

[twodogsbarking]

15. I am whelmed.

[summer_in_TX]

16. As someone who has been worried about the deterioration

in the proper functioning of our Congress, I am not as anti-Joe Manchin as many Dems are.

I get impatient too, but I support his goals (and I think Joe Biden's too) of trying to restore some degree of the process of compromise which I think in these polarized times is a needed model for us all. I suspect some coordination between them, actually. My best guess anyway.

I'm not surprised he's on board for the reconciliation process, nor that he was able to do the long, slow negotiations to achieve a bipartisan infrastructure package. I'm grateful to him.

Some goals are more important than getting everything we want, and re-establishing compromise and working together is that for me. As long as the process doesn't mean we lose the most important things. Fortunately Biden's figures were cast very high and there should be good room for negotiations to lead to a good place.

That's my take, and I hope I'm right.