shannon pettypiece, veteran journalist, our senior white house reporter over at nbc news digital. we are reunited as well tonight with two of our friends from the post, ashley parker, pulitzer prize-winning white house bureau chief for the washington post. and robert costa, national political reporter. his latest book, co-authored with his friend and colleague bob woodward called peril is now of course a new york times best-seller. and robert, i d like to begin with you. you re in touch with folks at the capitol. what s the reaction going to be with the way pelosi played this tonight? there s concern in democratic ranks that this thing s on the rocks. but speaker pelosi, as you said, only brings a bill to the floor if she s confident in the votes. and she s trying to play on different fronts here to make sure that schumer doesn t feel like he s in a corner. she s working closely with the white house, brian dease and others and susan rice are over at her office talking you thi
popular among progressives who continue to try to push their party away from capitalism and towards socialist policies. today, speaker nancy pelosi said this morning that she thinks capitalism in america could use a make of. i will say in our system, capitalism is our economic system but it has not served as well as it should. when it comes to the fate of the reconciliation package, we heard from brian dease this morning that said that the president is willing to compromise meaning to indicate that the price tag are not exactly set in stone. neil? capitalism has not helped our economy? tens of millions of jobs of private enterprises that grew
point. two examples tonight. one in texas and one on gas prices which the president appears to be doing with just a couple weeks ago he mocked. this has been going on for years now. every time prices start to go up, especially in an election year, politicians dust off their three-point plans for $2 gas. president obama, that was march 15th mocking challenger newt gingrich. today he wasn t promising $2 a gallon gas or dusting off a three-point plan. he did unveil a five-point plan to lower prices by cracking down on speculators. we can t afford a situation where speculators artificially manipulate markets by buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage and driving prices higher only to flip it for a quick profit. we can t afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions while millions of families get the shortened of the stick. it is not the way the market should work. keeping them honest, not even his own advisers could say how it would affect gasol