A short time ago, the white house said this. the president put forward a responsible offer in the interest of finding bipartisan, common ground that includes critical investments in our infrastructure to create middle-class jobs, and strengthen our competitiveness in the world. as well as cuts to his original proposal, and a way to pay for it. the ball is now in their court to respond with a good-faith counteroffer. this is big news, for a number of reasons. first, this stalemate over sticker price further delays the critical revamp america s infrastructure needs. but it, also, is a tell of the gop s strategy toward the white house, and presents the president and his party with a question that we have asked many times on this program. to get things done, must the filibuster go? if deadlines, still, stick in washington, timing is of the essence here. the white house set memorial day as its deadline to strike an infrastructure deal. and no sign they are letting up on it. with me now, cal
Debbie, the white house is still making a bipartisanship a priority. here is how press secretary jen psaki described the smaller infrastructure package. take a listen. in our view, this is the act, the art, i should say, of seeking common ground. this proposal exact exhibits a willingness to come down in size. while, also, staying firm in areas that are most vital to rebuilding our infrastructure. debbie, at this point, how important is, quote, the art of seeking common ground? i think that it s always incredibly important to try and find a compromise. where the president and congress members are listening to each other so that we can include issues that are important to the other side. but unfortunately, alicia, what we ve seen is that mitch mcconnell has already made it very clear that he is going to try and block anything that president biden is trying to do. he has had multiple
Respects. caregivers deserve good-paid, union jobs. and so, we need to understand and realize that i don t think, and especially just seeing this counteroffer from the republicans or this offer from the republicans, that they really are being themselves. they do not want to do anything for working people. for low-income people. for low-waged people. all they care about are millionaires and billionaires. and they ll do anything to try to stop president biden from moving forward on this very bold plan. and we say it s got to be build back not only better but it s got to build back bold. representative, if i go back to your original point which is republicans don t want to do anything that behooves the president. democrats met with the senate parliamentarian on thursday to discuss budget reconciliation. as you well know. is there any sense that democrats may have to resort to that to pass this infrastructure bill? first, i know the president. i know the speaker. and i know that senato
Back, if you will. you know? they re the two that have stood in the way of democrats, who have said let s blow the filibuster up. if they decide that republican opposition to the january-6th commission is is is not just disheartening. but, you know, undemocratic, unamerican, then then they could join with their colleagues and decide, you know, this is important enough. we are going to get rid of the filibuster. but it really depends on those two, specifically. debbie, on this question of the january-6th commission, your sense of how badly it could backfire for the gop? alicia, i cannot overemphasize how important it is, right now, for us to investigate and understand what, exactly, happened on january 6th. it was an insurrection. it was an attempted coup by the president. when house members, congress members, were actually certifying the election. the 2020 election. i think that we have seen, from kevin mccarthy and other
Conversations with republican members. it s critically important for republicans in congress to make sure they invest in our crumbling infrastructure. we know that we re falling behind. we re ranking at 13th, globally, as it pertains to our infrastructure. so i think that it s going to take a lot of work. but i know that president biden has said, many times, inaction is not a choice, at this point. tia, senate republicans are likely to use the first filibuster of biden s term to stop the january-6th commission. even senator manchin calls this move, quote, disheartening. will that be a turning point in the debate over the filibuster, tia? i think, of course, as we ve been saying all along. that s really going to depend on whether senator manchin, and to a lesser extent, senator sinema, decide republican opposition to the january-6th commission is the straw that breaks their