Biden blames McConnell, Manchin, Sinema for agenda, debt limit woes
Days after he failed to gain enough support in his own party to approve two crucial pieces of his agenda, President Biden on Monday insisted he’s doing all he can as he blamed fellow Democrats and the Senate Republican leader for his legislative troubles.
Following a White House address where he urged Senate Minority Leader to set aside a filibuster on raising the debt limit, admitting to reporters afterwards that he “can’t” guarantee the US won’t hit the debt ceiling, Biden was pressed on why he was unable to get key members of the Democratic Party on board with his infrastructure and social spending agenda last week.
“I have been able to close a deal with 99 percent of my party — two people,” he said, appearing to reference Sens. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), who have both vowed to vote against Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package at its current price tag.
“That’s still underway,” Biden said of negotiations.
“I don’t think there’s been a president that has been able to close deals that has been in a position where he has only 50 votes in the Senate and a bare majority in the House,” Biden griped, despite heading into Friday’s visit to the House of Representatives knowing he needed to move those two senators to forge a deal. “It’s a process.”
The president was pushed further and specifically asked if he was putting the blame “squarely on two US senators for his inability to close that deal.”
“Look, I need 50 votes in the Senate. I have 48,” Biden replied.
Last Thursday, the House was set to vote on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, however that vote was delayed after Democrats were unable to garner the votes to pass it.
The back and forth stemmed from a disagreement between progressives and moderates over the budget reconciliation. Progressives vowed to tank the infrastructure bill if the massive reconciliation bill wasn’t passed first, while moderates, specifically Manchin and Sinema, refused to sign off on the $3.5 trillion price tag.
Biden traveled to Capitol Hill on Friday to address the Democratic Caucus, telling members that the bipartisan infrastructure bill would not proceed until Democrats reach an agreement on the larger social spending bill.
While Manchin has offered a topline of $1.5 trillion for the spending bill, Sinema’s topline remains unknown. Both have met with Biden repeatedly amid negotiations.
Biden was pressed on what Sinema’s topline would be on Monday, but he declined to give a number publicly.
The president was also asked what size he personally thinks the reconciliation package should be, to which Biden said he already “laid out what I thought it should be [and] it’s not going to be that, it’s going to be less.”
“Both the Build Back Better piece, as well as the infrastructure piece, are things that I wrote,” Biden said. “These didn’t come from – God love ‘em – Bernie Sanders or AOC or anybody else, I wrote them.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have both supported the progressive’s movement to hold up the infrastructure bill to pass the budget reconciliation.
On Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez said that while progressives have the advantage right now, negotiations with moderates could come down to what programs are in the bill, when it comes to cutting costs.
“So here’s where I think the problem is. It’s that when we talk about top line numbers, there’s a lot that is hidden in that discussion. And so the reason why this conversation shouldn’t be about numbers, but it should be about what substantive programs are willing to be excluded,” she said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
“But those are the conversations that we need to have, because the thing is that Washington math is notoriously funny and you can make a $3 trillion into $2 trillion, you can make a $3 trillion bill that helps fewer people, etc. And so that’s why we really need to talk about the substance of this,” Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said.
The budget reconciliation package is not yet finalized, as Biden continues to negotiate with Manchin and Sinema to try and savage as much of his broad spending plans as he can, including provisions to lower costs of child care, higher education, prescription drugs, health care and housing, plus push green agenda items.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has been slammed for claiming the $3.5 budget reconciliation packages “costs zero dollars.”
On Monday, the president said once again that the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill as well as reconciliation are both somehow paid for.
Hours later, during her daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made a similar point when pressed on whether the president admitted the bill didn’t cost zero when he said it would be less than he initially proposed.
“What we’re talking about is how much the top line investments are — which are all paid for,” Psaki said, referencing the $3.5 price tag. “So therefore, it costs zero, no matter what the cost or size of the top line investments are, we have ways to pay for it.”
Psaki added that the plan will be paid for by asking corporations and people of the highest incomes to “cover the cost of these necessary investments” through higher tax rates.
When asked one more time if the reconciliation budget costs zero dollars, Psaki admitted “the plan costs nothing for the American people who make less than $400,000.”
Biden’s comments came following his remarks urging Republicans to vote for raising the debt ceiling or “get out of the way.”
As he faces being unable to pass another piece of his agenda by raising the debt ceiling, Biden put the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying “it’s up” to him.
Just before Biden’s remarks, McConnell sent a letter to the president telling him Democrats would need to raise it on their own.
“Since mid-July, Republicans have clearly stated that Democrats will need to raise the debt limit on their own. All year, your party has chosen to pursue staggering, ‘transformational’ spending through unprecedented use of the party-line reconciliation process,” McConnell said. “I have relayed this reality to your Democratic lieutenants for two and a half months.”
Biden told reporters that he plans to speak with McConnell about the letter, but still believes the “easiest way to do this” is to vote on what is in the Senate to raise the debt limit.
He criticized Republicans for not voting to raise the debt limit, appearing to call them hypocritical after they raised it three times during former President Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Republicans in Congress raised the debt three times when Donald Trump was president and each time with Democrat support, but now they won’t raise it, even though they’re responsible for more than $8 trillion of bills incurred in four years under the previous administration,” Biden said.
The president later said that the Democrats would take responsibility for raising the debt ceiling, “even though some did vote to acquire the debt,” and continued to push Senate Republicans to vote on the House-passed bill that would raise the limit.
Democrats are able to raise the debt ceiling without Republican support through reconciliation, according to guidance from the Senate parlimentarian’s office.
The process would allow the Democrats to raise the ceiling as its own bill without directly impacting the larger budget reconciliation. The second bill would not jeopardize the larger spending bill, according to the parliamentarian.
Despite that, Psaki emphasized on Monday that the Biden administration is not looking to raise the debt ceiling in a separate reconciliation bill.
“As you know, the reconciliation process would mean essentially starting from scratch. And the point is, why wouldn’t it be the preference,” Psaki said, referring to moving the $3.5 trillion House-passed bill forward. “Why, for everybody involved, Democrats, Republicans, the American public. We have a bill that we could vote up or down to raise the debt limit. It’s a much easier, cleaner, simpler, less risky process.”
The press secretary cited that while Democrats control the Senate by the narrowest margin, the GOP could bring forward a range of amendments for the separate bill, delaying the process further.
If the Democrats decide to raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation, it would be the second reconciliation bill of this session. It is unclear if there is a limit to the amount of reconciliation bills passed each session, but they can only include policies that change spending or revenues, according to the House Committee on the Budget.
If they do choose that path, it would not be expected to face much stalling from McConnell as it could easily pass with 50 Democratic votes.
