AOC: I'll support Joe Manchin's priorities, and he can support mine
There is no shortage of chaos on Capitol Hill this week, and plenty of it has to do with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), and their party's sweeping spending package, for which a final framework and price tag has yet to be agreed upon (much to progressives' chagrin).
The party's left-wing faction in the House has therefore begun to protest, threatening to vote "no" on the bipartisan infrastructure bill coming to the floor Thursday if reconciliation needs aren't met. But why don't they trust in the process, and its two key sticking points (i.e. Manchin, Sinema), to make good on passing the legislation? Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) detailed some of that skepticism for NBC News' Garrett Haake on Wednesday.
First and foremost, progressives already agreed to lower the spending package price tag from $10 trillion to $3.5 trillion, Ocasio-Cortez told Haake. "Then several months ago, we had an agreement with [Manchin], with everybody else throughout the entire party ... we will move forward on this $3.5 trillion. And that we will link the [bipartisan infrastructure bill] and the Build Back Better Act together."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ocasio-Cortez continued that "some folks" in the party have since "reneged on that agreement, and that's where I think we have ... an issue here of trust." Ostensibly, she is referring to Manchin, as well as Sinema.
"Let's stick to the original plan. I will support Manchin's priorities. He can support my priorities, and we can all win, and working families can get childcare, health care, climate action, and infrastructure investment."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Nasa’s new dark matter mapUnder the Radar High-resolution images may help scientists understand the ‘gravitational scaffolding into which everything else falls and is built into galaxies’
-
Is the US about to lose its measles elimination status?Today's Big Question Cases are skyrocketing
-
‘No one is exempt from responsibility, and especially not elite sport circuits’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
