Jayapal: Sinema, Manchin ‘Have to Remember’ They Are on ‘Democratic Team’ — We Had a Deal

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Ayman Mohyeldin Reports” that progressives voted for Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) infrastructure bill, even when many disagreed with it, so now the senators must honor that deal and vote for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

Jayapal said, “Let’s not forget that our original request was for $7 trillion. That’s actually what we think we need if we were to do these investments over a decade. We cut it down to $3.5 trillion in an effort to recognize that we needed to get everybody on board. That was the package that the Senate, the House, and the White House agreed to when the Senate passed its $3.5 trillion resolution with everybody on the Democratic side voting for it. So that is still the place that we are in, and it’s not about a particular top line, only in the sense that this is what these investments cost.”

Mohyeldi said, “How do you go about getting Senator Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema onboard? They’re not even necessarily looking at the programs or the investments but are just rejecting the flat-out total $3.5 trillion.”

Jayapal said, “There are people in the House Progressive Caucus who really don’t like the infrastructure bill that Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and others put together and given a choice they would vote no on that. If they want the bill that they negotiated to pass, then everybody is going to have to do some of what they don’t want. Progressives may have to vote for that bill even though it has negative things around it in terms of climate change. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have to remember that they’re part of the Democratic team.”

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