On Sunday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal(D-Washington) once again made it clear that the $1.5 trillion price tag Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) is offering for the Democrats’ budget reconciliation bill is too small for the sweeping spending bill.
Speaking with CNN’s Dana Bash about the spending bill, Jayapal emphasized that while she is open for negotiation, the figure that centrists are suggesting is far too low to cover all the bill’s priorities.
“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Jayapal said. “That’s too small to get our priorities in. So, it’s going to be somewhere between $1.5 and $3.5.”
“I don’t feel the need to give a number because I gave my number. It was $3.5,” she added. “So, if you’re in a negotiation, you need to have a counteroffer before you bid against yourself.”
Jayapal further noted that her priority would be to cover all the “critical programs” in the package rather than the price tag itself.
“We’re not thinking about the number,” she said. “And the president said this to us, too. He said, ‘Don’t start with the number. Start with what you’re for.’ And that’s what he’s asked them for. And then, let’s come to the number from there. So, that’s how we’re thinking about it.”
In a 50-50 Senate, Democrats will need votes from both Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), two key centrists in the upper chamber causing the deadlock, to win a simple majority and pass the bill by budget reconciliation.
