Sunday shows preview: Democrats eye two-part infrastructure push; Michigan coronavirus cases surge

President Biden’s infrastructure plan and a surge in coronavirus cases in Michigan are the issues expected to dominate the Sunday news circuit. 

Democrats indicated they will most likely split up Biden’s infrastructure plan into two separate bills, though the overall plan will include funding for projects like roads, bridges and public transit as well as child care, elder care and family tax credits.

The first portion, which has a price tag of roughly $2.25 trillion, has already faced opposition from Republicans, who say the package is too expensive and contorts the parameters of what infrastructure plans are supposed to cover.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said last weekend that Biden should cut the package down to about $615 billion in order to get it passed. 

However, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week that she plans on both packages being passed by August and that Democrats may opt to pass them via budget reconciliation, which would allow the party to avoid the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster. 

“I think we will have two bills,” she told reporters on a Thursday press call. “We’re hoping that we can do — especially [the] infrastructure bill — with [bipartisan support]. … If we have to go to reconciliation, that’s a lever, but I hope it’s not something that we’ll need to do.”

Pelosi will appear on CBS’s “Face the Nation” this Sunday.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, another key player in Biden’s infrastructure plan, will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

However, Biden has expressed openness to changing some aspects of his plan to win over some GOP votes.

“Compromise is inevitable, changes are certain,” Biden said in remarks from the White House this week. “We’ll be open to good ideas and good faith negotiations. But here’s what we won’t be open to. We will not be open to doing nothing. Inaction simply is not an option.” 

Meanwhile, an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in Michigan has forced the White House to determine if it should send additional vaccines there.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) has advocated for Michigan to be a priority and get more shots, though the White House has thus far denied her request.

“There are tens of millions of people across the country in each and every state and county who have not yet been vaccinated,” Jeff Zients, the White House coordinator for the COVID-19 response said this week.

“And the fair and equitable way to distribute the vaccine is based on the adult population by state, tribe and territory. That’s how it’s been done, and we will continue to do so.”

“The virus is unpredictable,” he added. “We don’t know where the next increase in cases could occur.”

Whitmer will appear on “Face the Nation” on Sunday as well. 

Below is the full roster of guests for this Sunday’s talk shows. 

ABC’s “This Week” — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

CBS’s “Face the Nation” — Pelosi; Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.); Whitmer; Tony Thurmond, California’s superintendent of public instruction.

CNN’s “State of the Union” — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.); Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

“Fox News Sunday” — Buttigieg; Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.); Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas).

FOX News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures — John Ratcliffe, former director of National Intelligence; Herschel Walker, Former NFL Champion; Rep. Jim Jordan, (R-Ohio); Mark Brnovich, Arizona Attorney General (R).