Arizona Dem Senator Kyrsten Sinema gave yet another big blow to Biden’s $3.5 trillion bill, reportedly telling the White House that she will not support the drug-price reforms that they are struggling to get support for.
“Sinema met with President Biden on September 15 to talk about his social spending program, in which the leaders of the party want to include the Medicare drug pricing program,” Politico said. “Sinema has revealed her resistance to the drug proposal to the White House, according to one person close to the situation, but it is not clear if she is totally immovable.”
The news is only the latest blow for Joe Biden’s struggling White House, which has had its approval rating fall into the 30s in past weeks. Dem. Senator Joe Manchin (from WV) is signaling that he will delay voting on Joe Biden’s package until next year, which might be a death blow to the bill.
Manchin “is privately stating that he believes Congress should have a ‘strategic pause’ until next year before voting on Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion social-spending program,” Axios said. “Senator Manchin’s new timeline — if he pushes for it — would disrupt the goals of Democrat House Speaker Pelosi (Calif.) and Democrat Senate Majority Leader Schumer (N.Y.) to vote on the budget program this month.”
The report stated that any delay from Senator Manchin, who is not in the liberal-wing of the Democrat Party, might “imperil the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Nancy Pelosi has promised to get through by Sept. 27.”
Biden reportedly called Manchin previously this year and said to him about Democrats’ huge coronavirus bill, “If you do not come along, you are really f***ing me.”
The White House also got bad news this Sunday night when the AP reported that the Senate parliamentarian decided that Democrats cannot force in a citizenship pathway for illegals into their huge $3.5 trillion social-spending bill.
Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram later confirmed the report, saying that: “A preliminary decision from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, which was obtained by Fox News, would prevent Democrats from including immigration measures in their $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.”
Author: Scott Dowdy