that the u.s. senate can hold. why are senators manchin and sinema getting all the spotlight? it s not the obvious question. they are not the only moderates who have problems with the reconciliation price tag. is the focus on them actually providing cover for other moderate dems? you know, i think they re the ones who are out there publically withholding their votes. the reason that the spotlight is on them right now is because they have put the spotlight on themselves. they are the ones who are obstructing their own president s agenda. the negotiations between them and, frankly, the rest of the democratic party, including the progressives are what is going to determine what this will look like. i want to take a listen to what senator sanders said about senator sinema. i think the people of arizona
revisit them in a couple of years to determine whether or not they should go a little bit longer. but wolf, they are going to have a hard time, because each and every one of these programs has a specific set of constituencies that passionately want them to be a part of this package. and they re going to have to make some tough choices here. so this is not going to be an easy process, but you re right, they have taken that first step of acknowledging that the number has to come down, but getting there won t be easy. and that s why the president has just said, it could be six minutes, six days, six weeks to get this done. he promises, it will get done eventually. phil, what are your sources saying over there about president biden offering a range for a possible reconciliation price tag? we know the president wants to pass transformative legislation. do progressives feel right now he s on their side? i mean, i think when you look at the remarks that he delivered, and ryan s done a gre
we re following the breaking news president biden just wrapping up meetings with democrats up on capitol hill as he tries to heal the divides inside his own democratic party and seal the deal on two signature pieces of his domestic agenda. let s discuss this and more with democratic congresswoman, debbie dingell of michigan. she s a senior house whip and a deputy whip in the deputy congressional caucus. congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. i know you were in that meeting with president biden up on capitol hill just a little while ago. can you confirm that he told democrats that he wants these two bills to pass together and that the reconciliation price tag will need to come down from $3.5 trillion? you know, wolf, this is what i m going to tell you. he came and helped lay out very
in the white house meantime has been putting out a different number about the reconciliation price tag. but that s because of her appeals on what they are calling wasteful giveaways to the rich and corporations. a lot of things in play this morning and we expect to have a lot of questions on that in the briefing room. john: jacqui heinrich, that briefing is not pushed back to 2:30, so we await jen psaki and her team coming out. anita: now to the state of play on capitol hill while this is really coming down to the wire. hillary vaughn is live on capitol hill with the latest. speaker pelosi said she wants up the boat today. she wants about today but if she does not have the boat, it s very clear that the vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal will not be happening, at least not today. but i did get a chance to talk
he set i will try to dissuade joe on any of these things. but to cut through the noise, i can confirm with multiple sources that the reconciliation price tag that s been discussed this week is no longer $3.5 trillion. it s also not as low as the 1.5 and that s all very fluid, with a range that s being discussed this week with them the low and made it to train dollar area. discussions are still ongoing including over the specific topline amount and no agreements have been reached from senator manchin kyrsten sinema on what amounts will be acceptable. we are safely out of that $3 trillion range and as of yesterday one progressive source told me anything less than two and a half trillion will be very tough to swallow.