Sunday shows preview: Frustration runs high as infrastructure talks hit setback
Frustrations on Capitol Hill over another punted a vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill as well as a deal on a social spending package are expected to dominate this week’s Sunday talk shows.
House Democratic leadership on Thursday abandoned a third attempt to clear the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed by the Senate earlier this year.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House leadership sought to vote on the package, which included funding for projects like roads and bridges, before President Biden headed to Rome.
However, House progressives once again said they would not vote for the bipartisan bill without assurances for the larger social spending package that would be passed through budget reconciliation.
Also on Thursday, Biden introduced a new proposal on a social spending package that would cut the total coast of the bill down to $1.75 trillion, half of the $3.5 trillion that was initially proposed.
The new proposal came after back-and-forth between the White House and moderate Democratic senators who took issue with both the size of the bill and the way that Democrats proposed to pay for it.
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) the two key centrists in the upper chamber, made positive remarks about the framework, but didn’t explicitly endorse the framework.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said Thursday that the new proposal had “major gaps,” adding that House members had a right to know that “50 U.S. senators are supporting a strong reconciliation bill.”
Aides for Democratic House leadership told The Hill that lawmakers are working to pass both bills as early as Tuesday.
The rush to pass the two bills comes as Virginians gear up for the state’s gubernatorial race on Tuesday, which recent polling has indicated is a toss-up. A Washington Post- Schar School survey released on Friday had Democrat Terry McAuliffe up one point from Republican Glenn Youngkin.
McAuliffe will appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this week’s Sunday talk shows:
ABC’s “This Week” — Pete Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary; Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Jennifer Granholm, Energy Secretary; Terry McAuliffe, Democratic candidate for Virginia governor; Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State
CBS’s “Face the Nation” — Antony Blinken, Secretary of State; Gina Raimondo, Commerce Secretary; Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah; Dr. Claire Boogaard, medical director of the COVID-19 Vaccine Program at Children’s National Hospital
CNN’s “State of the Union” — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Blinken; Buttigieg
“Fox News Sunday” — Buttigieg; Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.
Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures”— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), ranking Member, Sen. Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship; Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of The House, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), Committee on Armed Services Dr. Ben Carson, Former HUD Secretary