Sanders signals House should hold off on infrastructure vote

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

“Clearly to my mind it has some major gaps in it. The American people are very, very clear that they’re sick and tired of paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. There is to the best of my knowledge no language in there that takes on the pharmaceutical industry,” Sanders told reporters outside his office.

The bill does not include a measure to allow the government to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare and other programs with drug companies.

(snip)

“There are a number of concerns,” he added, referring to a decision to drop a national paid family leave program from the White House framework as well as a limited expansion of Medicare benefits leaving out dental and vision care.

(snip)

“I want to see it improved,” he replied when asked whether he supports the White House framework that President Biden presented to House progressives Thursday morning in the Capitol.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/578919-sanders-says-white-house-framework-has-major-gaps

[JohnSJ]

1. I wonder if he thinks a speaker McCarthy would do a better job?

I have reached the stage where everyone knows what the stakes are, and they will have to face the consequences of their actions

and for those who think it will just be Manchin and Sinema who will get the blame, I think will be very disappointed

They all will

[ColinC]

5. A gutless bill will give us the same results

Remember 2010?

[JohnSJ]

9. It isn't a gutless bill. However, that philosophy worked out real will in 2016. Because of that

we have the SC we do now

All or nothing has never been a successful strategy

[ColinC]

12. It was l actually. By dropping core tenets of the original

Proposition, it ended up lacking the guts that a true Medicare for all bill would have had, with horrible electoral consequences. This isnt to say it want a transformative and incredibly good law. But rather, it didn't take the bold/gutsy steps that would have won democrats the midterms. The bill in discussion, despite being better overall, risks the same consequences.

[TexasTowelie]

20. I doubt that a M4A bill would have helped us in the 2010 mid-terms.

The attitude of people about expanding social welfare programs was much worse in 2010 than now and Obama spent all of his political capital getting the 60 votes for the ACA. There were too many Democratic senators like Landrieu and Lincoln that would never support M4A so it is wishful thinking to speak like it was a possibility back then.

The mid-terms in 2010 were about the Tea Party, socialism, and racism against President Obama.

[ColinC]

22. I just think that having something to show for it on top of the ACA

Like infrastructure and M4A, would have helped prevent at least close to enough of our losses to keep the house. Didn't we lose like 60 seats or something? Call me naive, but I really think that passing a democratic bill (as opposed to the Nixon/Romney republican bill that was passed), would have cut those losses in half. We couldn't have avoided losing seats, but it could have dramatically shifted the discussion to the actual crux of the policy issues instead of letting the gop and super PACs control the narrative..

[TexasTowelie]

14. We can either deliver on some of our promises that we made in the 2020 election

or we can have nothing to show for efforts and be voted out of office in 2022.

Considering that in November and December of last year it was uncertain whether Democrats would have even a 50-50 tie in the Senate, we should take what we can get and live to fight another day. We were never going to get a bill with "guts" and that was determined in the general election last year.

[ColinC]

15. I don't disagree.

Like, don't get me wrong. I do think something is far better than nothing -as it was with the ACA (remember 2012? Also the part where it would actually help people) but if we don't do everything we can to give us the best possible thing, we will likely heavily regret it at least in the short term.

I think Bernie's push isn't actually to kill the bill, as much as it is to put the most pressure possible on his colleagues to stop removing more and more crucial elements to it -like more recently paid family leave.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I believe Bernie believes if the reconciliation bill is shortchanged, and the American People

don't perceive enough positive change affecting their lives then we're far more likely to a get a Speaker McCarthy or worse.

That would be the case even if the bill has some positive aspects to it, the ACA is a prime example.

[JohnSJ]

3. Yup

[JustAnotherGen]

7. This times 1000

And with these two - we can win Ohio, PA, Arizona (Mark Kelly) and Georgia in 2022.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. No don't do that Sanders

Get it passed this week.

Shift to voting rights - increase our a majority 2022 - and go back and get the whole enchilada in 2023.

And after you guys get it passed - harp on the GOP and that not a single one voted for it. It should be in EVERY SINGLE interview between now and next November.

[TexasTowelie]

6. So Bernie is willing to see both bills sink unless he gets what he wants? nt

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Bernie is willing to delay both bills until BBB contains what the American people want

There, FIFY.

[TexasTowelie]

19. Nothing was killed.

However, the fact that this bill wasn't ready to sign before Biden went on the G-20 summit isn't good for the president. Yes, Manchin and Sinema are to blame; however, Bernie gets to share in that blame also because of his unrealistic expectations.

[brush]

16. Sinema and Manchin have us over a barrel. We need to take...

what we can get right now and get the projects and jobs rolling, help into the hands needed so we can win the mid-terms and get the rest later.

We gotta realize the holidays are upon us soon and with people out of DC not much will get done. Now is the time because after the new year, everything will be seen as Dems failed to get both bills thru.

We need to listen to the Speaker and the President to get both bills passed before the holidays which are just weeks away.

[Fiendish Thingy]

23. "Take what we can get" is no way to govern- Manchin and Sinema can't be trusted

So we might not even be able to “take what we can get” if they sabotage the BBB after the BIF is passed first (and they will, just because they can).

[TexasTowelie]

18. So both bills will die.

There is not going to be a 3.5 trillion bill and there isn't going to be all of the things in the bill that Bernie thinks that the people want. Bernie has pretty much been excluded from the negotiating process as we saw this past weekend when he didn't meet with Schumer or Manchin.

Furthermore, Biden asked for the bills to be completed before he went to the G-20 summit this weekend. However, Bernie doesn't care about that by suggesting that the House delay the bill. Oh well, if Bernie doesn't care what Biden wants then I can imagine that Biden might not care what Bernie wants either.

And no, you didn't FIFY because I have a grasp on reality.

[Fiendish Thingy]

24. The reality is the BBB is dead if BIF passes first. Nt

[TexasTowelie]

25. So the question becomes who is willing to see both bills fail because they couldn't get what they

consider to be the perfect BBB bill?

I'm not, what about you?

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. Or: who's willing to insist BBB pass first so that both bills can pass. Nt

[TexasTowelie]

29. Those in the House who insist that the BBB pass with all of the things that Bernie want

will be equally culpable in killing both bills. No ifs, ands, ors, or buts about it.

Note that nobody in the Senate is negotiating the package upwards except for Bernie who was spurned from the negotiations with Biden, Manchin, and Schumer this past weekend. Bernie is powerless now whether or not he or his supporters are willing to accept that truth.

[Fiendish Thingy]

31. Nobody is threatening to kill BBB except Manchin and Sinema

The deal was to pass BBB first, then the BIF.

Nobody should trust or expect Manchin and Sinema to support today’s BBB framework if the BIF passes first.

[lapucelle]

28. Joe Biden is the president. When the American people elected Biden, they trusted him

with the mandate to lead.

Today President Biden announced a framework that he supports and that will help accomplish the agenda the American people elected him to enact.

Anyone standing in the way is an obstacle and an obstruction to progress. Anyone.

[TexasTowelie]

30. +1

[PoliticAverse]

17. More importantly what is Jayapal indicating? n/t

[global1]

21. Somebody Talk To Sanders - We Need To Get This Passed Today....

Getting it passed will go a long way in gaining the American People's confidence in Biden and the Dems and I believe it will pay off in the elections of 2022 and 2024. I think the Dems will gain seats in both elections - if this bill is passed.

Then the Dems can come back stronger to enhance those areas in the bill that they now had to compromise on and basically strengthen it.

If we don't get this passed - we're just assuring the MSM to continue to dump on Biden and the Dems and assure that they will get beat in the upcoming elections. We'll lose are even small margin in Congress and we'll never recover because the Repugs will stop at nothing to end our Democracy as we know it.

Please Bernie - we've come this far. You've made so much headway in the Dem Party with your Progressive outlook. We couldn't have did it without you.

Take this as a win and come back with a vengeance when we increase our margins in the House and Senate. We'll all be in a better position then to take even bigger steps then.

[lees1975]

27. I love ya, Bernie, but...

we need this.

We also need Democrats to realize that the political game has changed, partisan divisiveness is the order of the day, and effort needs to be put into unifying the party, beating the living daylights out of the Republicans at the ballot box and once they are not in reach of obstruction, the filibuster is dead, there are fifteen justices on the Supreme Court and voting in federal elections is under control of the federal, not state, governments, we can debate the issues between progressives, moderates and conservatives in the Democratic party. Right now, we need this.