Pelosi Takes Mid-Sentence Dig at Manchin While Praising Him Amid Reconciliation Chaos
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stopped mid-sentence while being praiseworthy of Joe Manchin on Thursday amid the chaos surrounding the $3.5 trillion welfare and climate reconciliation bill, which the West Virginia Democratic senator opposes.
“Madame Speaker, I don’t have to tell you, you’ve got a Senate problem on your hands. Joe Manchin said last night that the reconciliation bill is the definition of fiscal insanity. He talked about vengeful taxes. Does that sound like someone who’s open to further negotiation and how do you…,” asked NBC News senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake, who was interrupted by Pelosi repeatedly saying “Yes.”
“How do you move forward with that on the other side of the Democratic Party,” asked Haake.
“We’re talking about substance. We’re not talking about rhetoric and not even talking about dollars. We’re talking about what is important in the legislation. Where can we find our common ground,” said Pelosi. “If I paid attention to everybody’s public statements, oh my goodness, even some that maybe you inadvertently make that are not quite on point. But he says some other things after that that said I’m for reconciliation. And did you see that?”
Haake followed up by asking, “Is he saying something privately then to you or the president that gives you more hope that that can move forward?”
Pelosi leaned forward and rhetorically asked, “You think I’m going to talk to you about my conversations with Joe Manchin in here?”
“You can promise not to tell anyone,” she joked, eliciting laughter in the House press briefing room.
Pelosi went on to say, “I think Joe Manchin is a great member of the Senate. We’re friends. We’re Italian-Americans. We get along. Catholic. We have shared values. I have enormous respect for him. I have one of the joys of my service in Congress was to work with him to make sure we had the health pension benefits for our mine workers. Not that I think clean coal is anything but, you know, well, nonetheless about that. But I do believe in the workers, their needs, and the rest and we did that at the end of last year.”
That legislation was signed into law as part of a year-end spending bill in 2019, not 2020.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
