Thursday on CNN’s “New Day,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) sounded off on the ongoing negotiations for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better spending agenda.
Dingell said Democrats plan to meet with Biden, and “nobody knows” what’s in the bill. She added that she’s “not even sure” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) knows what has been included.
“Paid family leave, congresswoman, gone from the bill?” asked host Brianna Keilar.
“Brianna, I think you had a very good report previously to my joining you about what’s not clear, what’s in and out,” Dingell replied. “I’ve been hearing for three days it’s in. Four weeks it’s in, it’s out. I know two United States Senators who I have nothing but the utmost respect for are Patty Murray, who is not a progressive, she’s just a — I mean, she is — I mean, I hate these labels by the way, but she is a woman that’s working very hard, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand are working hard with Joe Manchin, they’re friends, they respect him, to put paid leave on, they had all night to work. So, I think one of the challenges is this morning when the president is expected to come to our Democratic caucus at 9:00 is nobody knows. And I’m not even sure the speaker knows what’s in the bill, what the revenue sources are going to be. It has been in agreement. The revenue sources in this bill will cover all of … the new programs. This will not add to the debt. Now, we need to know what’s going to be in the bill.”
“First of all, I want to say everybody wants to call this total chaos; people are divided. We’re united on our values,” she added. “We all know failure is not an option. And we have got to work together, figure it out. What we do get in this bill is going to make the difference in a lot of people’s lives, and we cannot fail to not get something passed. But, there have been two senators who have had way too much control, and you’ve got a House of 435 members, 220 Democrats who want to have their say, want to know what’s in it, and aren’t going to vote for something they don’t know what’s in it.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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