way on imposing itself on all kinds of situations. it a 50/50 senate and democrats need joe manchin s vote because there are no republicans willing to cross over and no interest in that. they either get manchin s vote on this bill or they take a different approach and it might not be all bad perhaps legislatively and politically to have republicans go on the record in committee and floor on the child tax credit and universal prek and on all these very popular provisions of build back better. it there are some republicans who will find it uncomfortable to vote for them as if they come up one after the other one by
common with democrats than republicans, you made the point he said there are things about build back better he can support. why not start to break it up and get what you can get done and run on that? i think it s what the biden administration wants to do there are some in the house presented as sort of take all package in the senate. let s have varyings on the child tax credit and prek, universal prek and support for family leave, medical leave and so forth. there are things i think that are problematic about the bill the way we do legislation and until recently in the quite as we have hearings, testimony, we have amendments offered and debated. some aren t just decided on partisan grounds and a bill comes to the floor to be debated.
senate and radicalized republican party but they need to rethink the politics of this poitical strategy. let s talk about this, eugene. schumer sent a dear colleague letter in which he says i d ask you to consider the question if the right to vote is the corner stone of the democracy, how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the republican party can debate and pass voter suppression laws with a simple majority vote but not allow the united states senate to do the same? i m not sure who he s asking the question of but that s the call to make this majority vote issue if you can get sinema and manchin on board or two other republicans perhaps. that s the big if. and, you know, it i think bill makes valid points in that. when we talk about quote voting rights legislation end quote, it
i think they may end up in something like this, some could pass with 60 votes. some might end up in reconciliation anyway. it might end up as a better bill, slimmer bill, more focused on the key things that have to happen soon than would have been the case if this went through with 50 votes. so eugene, bill has the view get what you can get done. you have a view from your column that democrats need to talk more about the things they succeeded. you wrote democrats across the spectrum have to stop talking so much what they can and won t do and instead talk about what they have already done and if necessary, gulling as it may be, they may have to settle for a pair of build back better package that funds fewer programs over a longer span. democrats are doing much. republicans are doing nothing and that s the message to take into the midterm. your views are dove tailing here. you re agreeing with get done what you can get done and then make hay about it. well, reality has an impolite
department of justice and i imagine they expect to get movement from the department there. whether that s the role of the department of justice, these are unusual times and we ve seen a department of justice taking great steps to distance itself from the trump department of justice and perhaps restore confidence in the idea of this as a more independent administrative body going forward. let me ask you, the president came out and talked about the economy and how the economy is doing. it sounds like it may be a shift in messaging. the white house obviously has problems around messaging around the build back better bill and getting that done because of joe manchin. is there a shift in talking about the economy, which a lot of observers are talking about saying there is good stuff to trump it? well, the white house would say and the white house officials i talk to say the president has been focused very much on the economy. you can definitely tell the president wants to talk about wha