Sanders, exasperated with Manchin's demands, presses senator for specifics on Biden's domestic agend
Source: Washington Post
By Seung Min Kim
For some time, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has refused to discuss at length Sen. Joe Manchin IIIs demands relating to President Bidens proposed $3.5 trillion domestic spending package, appearing visibly annoyed as reporters peppered him with questions about the moderate Democratic senators conditions.
On Wednesday, the gloves came off.
Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and leader of the progressive movement, took direct aim at Manchins statements and positions on the wide-ranging legislation that would invest in climate change, expand and shore up health-care programs, and overhaul the nations social safety net.
In particular, Sanders targeted Manchins view on the role that the government should play when it comes to health care, child care and other programs, criticizing the senators comments uttered hours earlier that he did not believe that we should turn our society into an entitlement society.
Sen. Bernie Sanders departs after a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 6. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-agenda-sanders-manchin-senate-democrats/2021/10/06/96fdee98-26e3-11ec-a6ad-9ee7deda7f34_story.html
Mike Nelson
(9,955 posts)... Biden should invite Sanders, Manchin, and the other leaders on each side... to the White House for meetings. They can meet until a deal is done. Their next media engagement should be "we have a deal." All this other stuff should stop.
PSPS
(13,597 posts)CentralMass
(15,265 posts)"The time is long overdue for him (Manchin) to tell us with specificity not generalities, but beyond generalities, with specificity what he wants and what he does not want, and to explain that to the people of West Virginia and America.
He later added that its not good enough to be vague and that a few outliers in the Democratic caucus should not have such power to sway what most Democratic lawmakers and what Biden want.
I could, in five minutes, go to Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, and say, Chuck, I cant support this bill unless you have a Medicare-for-all provision. But Im not going to do that, Sanders said. It is wrong and it is really not playing fair that one or two people think that they should be able to stop what 48 members of the Democratic caucus want, what the American people want, what the president of the United States wants.