Pelosi rejects Manchin's call for a 'pause,' shows little willingness to pare back $3.5 trillion bil

[Polybius]

Source: CNN

(CNN)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday rebuffed a demand from Sen. Joe Manchin to take a "strategic pause" on a $3.5 trillion economic package, making clear that she was moving on an aggressive timeline to push the measure through this month and setting up a clash with moderate Democrats eager to pare back the price tag.

"Obviously, I don't agree," Pelosi told CNN when asked about Manchin's highly publicized demand for Congress to hit the brakes on fulfilling a bulk of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda this month.

In another sign of a looming clash, Pelosi showed little desire to pare back the massive $3.5 trillion price tag, a top-level spending amount that Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have both indicated they do not support.

"The number is the number, $3.5 (trillion), we can't go above that," Pelosi said. Asked about the likelihood she will have to go below that level, Pelosi responded, "Why?"

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/politics/pelosi-manchin-reconciliation-bill/index.html

[Fullduplexxx]

1. Why? Because otherwise Joe manchin says no and then there's nothing

[Fiendish Thingy]

9. We won't know what Manchin will do until it comes to an actual vote

First, Schumer will bring the finished bill (currently still being written) to the floor for debate and amendments, at which time Manchin and Sinema will be on hot seat for specifying their objections.

Until then, everything that comes out of Manchin and Sinema’s mouths is meaningless political theatre.

[NurseJackie]

18. You get it!

While others pull their hair out by the roots, and grind their teeth down to the gumline, and wring their hands to the bone.

[Fullduplexxx]

42. I am doing none of that

[ColinC]

29. Joe Manchin says lots of things and hardly sticks with it till the end

I second the post above mine.

[brush]

46. Don't be so sure. Manchin and Sinema can be schmoozed...

with infrastructure projects in their states with thousand of good jobs. Everyone went along with them on the bipartisan bill, now these two attention whores need to return the favor.

[Budi]

2. The only answer there is to that question. "WHY?"

Asked about the likelihood she will have to go below that level, Pelosi responded, "Why?"

Think I'd like to sit in as a silent observer, on a one-on-one between Pelosi & Psaki.

[wryter2000]

3. When his someone going to point out

It's 3.5 trillion over 10 years or 350 billion per year. Not so scary now, is it?

[LiberalFighter]

5. Exactly! Another key point in the legislation...

Even that amount does not compare to past legislation when inflation and the population of the country are considered.

[Lonestarblue]

12. But the sticking point is that it dares to raise taxes on very very wealthy people.

They might have to pay a bit more and stop enjoying the enormous giveaway from the 2017 Republican tax gift.

[FoxNewsSucks]

19. We can't do ever that, nor can we

divert the money from military spending. It disgusts me. $350B/year would be easy to do either way.

Those greedy bastards will still be rich even if taxed. And we'd still be spending more on warmongering than the rest of the world combined.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. "Why don't we just rescind the tax cut first?"

It can be done by it's own reconciliation bill too...

And it's something that can be bundled with this spending category of budget reconciliation too because with the 3 types of reconciliations allowable each fiscal year, they can either be standalone or bundled together in a combination (e.g., they could conceivably repeal the tax cuts, raise the debt ceiling, and set the spending targets for this "Human Infrastructure" plan).

[LiberalFighter]

4. Getting tired of old Joe. Pause? It was introduced in April.

How many more pauses will he demand?

[FBaggins]

6. She isn't really in a position to "reject" his "call"

He has the power to pause things all by himself.

In another sign of a looming clash, Pelosi showed little desire to pare back the massive $3.5 trillion price tag

And yet she reportedly promised not to bring up a bill in the House that couldn't pass the Senate.

[LiberalFighter]

7. Probably need to point out that his refusal of the legislation will harm...

West Virginians. Let his constituents know it will make their life more difficult.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

8. Rather than everyone else taking a "pause," why doesn't Manchin just catch up?

Doesn't he realize if he continues his obstructionist ways he'll be in the minority party after the 2022 election? Then he'll be able to write all the righteous op-eds he wants and nobody will give a shit -- especially the Democrats. I hope he doesn't plan on bringing home to goodies for his constituents. He says he's protecting the filibuster for them. Bullshit! Someone is paying Sinema and him off; eventually some Bob Woodward-type reporter will ferret out the facts.

[JohnSJ]

10. Pelosi deals with the House, Manchin is in the Senate

[bottomofthehill]

11. What could possibly go wrong

its not like he would fly to KY and talk to McTurtle about changing parties or anything like that......

[bottomofthehill]

23. One can only hope he does not.

I am old enough to have seen this act before, Senator Jeffords.

At least the 1/6 commission is in the House and we are not totally reliant on the senate.

[Calista241]

43. Why would he go to KY?

Apparently Manchin’s boat is the place to be for nearly everyone in the Senate.

[nykym]

13. Manchin is stalling so that

the groups that want to scuttle the deal (big corps & COC) have more time to get organized.

[Carlitos Brigante]

26. That's an excellent point!! Wouldn't doubt it. nt

[Meadowoak]

14. Manchin is bluffing. West Virginia needs help probably more than

Any other state in the union. If Manchin messes this up for WV., His political career will be over and he knows it.

[Mr.Bill]

44. I don't know what motivates Manchin

but it doesn't appear to be the needs of his constituents.

[Trueblue1968]

15. TELL THAT "JERK" MANCHIN TO GET STUFFED. I can't stand him.

[calimary]

16. Take a number!

[Hekate]

17. Do you think Mme Speaker of the House might be losing patience with the 2 drama queens?

Just a little?

[bottomofthehill]

24. They are in the Senate, I don't think they care what she thinks.

She has to worry about her Majority, the Senate is Schumer’s problem.

[Hekate]

25. True. But why was she being asked about it?

[bottomofthehill]

27. They (press) can ask her all they want, but if they don't move, she may have to

She does not have much of a carrot or a stick with these two senators.

[brush]

48. She actually has quite a big stick. She's sitting on the...

bipartisan bill that finally got passed in the Senate but won't be voted on in the House until the Speaker allows it to go to the floor for a vote.

She says she won't do that unless the reconciliation bill also gets passed.

We'll see how it plays out.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. "True. But why was she being asked about it?"

Because of the Constitution's technicality of "spending bills" originating in the House.

The House may come up with their own and the Senate may come up with their own, but in the latter case, the Senate has to either attach it onto an existing House bill, or the House has to agree to take parts of the Senate's version and incorporate it "as a substitute" for parts of the House version. They are all to be "H.R. (House Resolution) legislation. For example, this famous one - https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/3590 with its reconciliation piece - https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/4872

[Hekate]

34. I know. And as I said in my first response, I think she is done with the drama queens.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. What I always chuckle about her

is that before her father became a mayor of Baltimore, he was a Congressman, literally since she was a year old until she was 9. So as a child, she literally grew up running around the halls of Congress.

[Hekate]

36. I read a bio of her in the now-defunct LA Times Magazine when she became Speaker the first time

It kind of blew me away. It was not just that she had become a powerhouse in Dem politics up and down the state of California while raising 5 kids, yet had to be persuaded to run for Congress on her own behalf.

Her childhood schooling at her father’s knee in Baltimore in how to do politics was from the ground up and very thorough. Mayor Daddy did patronage, apparently in a benevolent fashion, and little Nancy kept records on yellow legal pads. For instance, someone would come to him asking for help getting thru the permitting maze so they or their cousin could open a gas station on such and such a street corner, and if he could he would help. Young Nancy’s job was to keep track of their names and other particulars. When it was time for the next election, these people would be contacted to phone bank or knock on doors, whatever to get him re-elected.

Talk about learning the family business.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. Yup. She is a master at it.

[bottomofthehill]

41. Yes, but in a 50/50 senate with no Republican siding with her

She can be as sick of the two as she wants but has very few tools in the box. There is no democratic option in WVA. The only hope we really have is that he realizes it and decides to do the right thing and, I have little hope of that

Senima on the other hand is a little more mailable. She could be primaried, Dems probably don’t hold the seat if there is a divisive primary.

The Speaker is an amazing leader. She has done great things, passing Obama Care may we’ll be her greatest accomplishment but there may still be other pages to be written, but, on this one, I could easily see Joe walk, become a chairman of rhe committee of his choice or even become the Republican leader if he delivers them the senate. The Democrats have very little leverage.

[BumRushDaShow]

45. Remember though

bills do not become laws without BOTH chambers participating. And when it comes to large packages like this, there is usually a "Joint Conference Committee" created to work out the deeper details of reconciling different versions of those bills. It consists of appointed members from both chambers selected by each chamber's leadership. A good description of that is here - https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2009/1030/dc-decoder-when-bills-go-to-conference-committee-what-happens

Unfortunately much of what goes on "in public" during this process, leaves people frustrated. HOWEVER it is actually something that is "standard procedure" and is very common when it comes to negotiating anything - for example union contracts, often done "in the press" (across all sorts of industries), where a union may say nasty things about "management" and will threaten to go on strike while management will say nasty things about the union and insist their "hands are tied", and they can't budge.

I.e., in most (not all) cases, it's usually "theater" - the bluster and threats and cajoling and carrots and sticks. Meanwhile the real work happens out of the public eye.

I know I have posted this many times before (and was able to actually see it here in Philly just before the pandemic hit), but this also sums it up (and I have taken many workshops and training courses on "Negotiation Skills" and used to be a union local President who participated in negotiating a contract back early in my career) -

[brush]

47. That's not the whole story. The two drama queens...

got their way with the bipartisan bill being passed finally in the Senate as all the Democrats went along with them, but Speaker Pelosi decides if it gets voted on in the House, and she says she won't allow it until the reconciliation bill also gets passed.

So the two attention whore senators actually do care what she thinks.

[ColinC]

30. She is the leader we need

Not the one we deserve

[Evolve Dammit]

31. Good. Let the undermining and pseudo-Dems be absolutely clear to all. Switch parties OK?

[riversedge]

33. On top of that, Congress is facing a number of other deadlines that threaten to overwhelm the congre

On top of that, Congress is facing a number of other deadlines that threaten to overwhelm the congressional calendar. A government funding deadline looms at the end of the month, and there is also an unresolved debt ceiling fight waiting in the wings.
Without a bill to raise the debt ceiling, the US is at risk of a potentially catastrophic debt default. And without a bill to keep the government open by month's end, federal agencies would shut down on October 1.
Pelosi, leaving the House floor on Tuesday, wouldn't say how Democrats will try to address the debt ceiling hike -- and whether they would try to attach it to a must-pass bill to fund the government past September 30. It is widely expected that Democrats will attach the debt ceiling hike to the government funding bill, daring Republicans to vote against it.

[lees1975]

38. Come on, Senator Manchin, we can afford this now that we aren't

spending $800 million a day on the Republican boondoggle in Afghanistan.

Do it for the people of West Virginia who elected you because they thought you would help with the job situation.

[2Legit]

49. Manchin thinks that he has big balls to flex

and the Speaker is letting him know that hers are bigger. NDP is not playing around. I have a feeling that this will be her last term and she has no f*ks to give anymore.

WV is one of the poorest states in the nation that could use the infusion of funding and infrastructure and this man is blocking it at every turn. If he is trying to hold on to his job, this isn't the way to do it.

I wish that he'd just switch parties and move on. Of course, he'd have no power if he did that.