count. i don t tell anything that people tell me, not even you, my dear, good friends. but i have a pretty good feel. again, cnn learning, as of this moment, that 20 progressives have said they will not back the bipartisan bill. now, pelosi can only afford to lose three so if they have got a count where 17 of those are going to flip back, okay. but the truth is if jayapal scuttles the infrastructure bill, it may be a deeply victory. a victory that carries the consequence of holding up the one thing that has widespread bipartisan support, which is the infrastructure bill. it would be a peeric victory, one that makes pelosi, who is the speaker for the entire democratic party, look foolish if she is forced to pull yet another vote on the bipartisan bill. let me just say we are going to pass the bill this week. this is professional.
mccarthy, you know, he s out out the window on this. but i you got to find 20 votes among the republicans? that would be really, pretty earth shaking, wouldn t it? think about if they pass the infrastructure bill and the progressives sat out and all the sudden, 20 republicans showed up and said we will vote for this thing. they may get 20 republicans if if if the president had 19 in the senate on the bipartisan bill. so, i you know, i want people to understand this is the bipartisan bill you are talking about. yes. it s possible. and what it will do is it if frankly, in some ways, this could work to joe biden s benefit. he can say i have had enough of this because right now, he is being held hostage by the progressives and it s it s not his agenda. he didn t run this way. so it s i feel i mean, i m just amazed. i mean, i i ve watched this. i ve been in the congress. i have seen all this. this is like nothing i ve ever seen, before. normally, it s a fight bet
from biden towards the republican. in new jersey, the democrat ekes it out but it was a 13-point swing away from democrats, versus what biden won by in the in the election. i mean, these are dramatic swings by voters. well, erin, i m not sure one i don t know that virginia voters or new jersey voters were really paying a huge amount of attention to the intricacies of congressional negotiations. but let s assume that there was some effect. i think the effect is and let s be fair about this i think that the more the democrats delay, the worse it is. i think you know, i m i m i m with with governor kasich. we ought to get this done as fast as we can. but what s the this that we want to get done? i think that the public wants what is in the both of those bills. not just the infrastructure bill but also the social and climate bill. and if you look at the polls, probably overwhelmingly in in favor of this. so let s get both of them done
they will not agree to that larger bill, the $1.9 trillion bill, until there was a full accounting by the krcongression budget office. but the problem for the leadership was that it will take weeks for that full accounting to happen, which is why the progressives said if you are going to wait weeks to have a vote on that large bill, we are going to wait weeks for the infrastructure bill. so now, pelosi is trying to call nar bluff, push them to break ranks and the president is trying to do the same but i can tell you, in talking to the progressive members as they are leaving the meeting, they are showing no signs of changing breaking ranks. they are saying they have said all along both these bills need to go together and they are not changing. so the question is at the moment, who will blink first? and the progressives are saying it s not going to be them. yeah, it is incredible to see what is happening think very few would have expected that at this moment, that they would say no d
i don t i don t think so. but god, get the get the get the infrastructure bill passed. it s good for everyone. the country s probably for it 90-10. i don t know who is against it. that is the right way to proceed. yes. and look, there s nothing wrong with the president of the united states who is elected to bring both parties together to solve problems, to start trying to recruit republicans. that would be a great message to get out. and if he loses it, then, you know, he can say i m going to come back and i am going to fight, fight, fight, and have some passion because i didn t even hear passion tonight from him. secretary, let me ask you. do you have a deep concern, though, about the cost of this? again, back to the point of a puric victory. let s say you get the bipartisan one and that is a all you get or you get both. i don t know. the point is it s been months. there he s been this very ugly fight going. sometimes when you get to the end of that road, you get everything yo