Watch Rachel Maddow Highlights: September 27th | MSNBC

and it is worth understanding the dynamics at play here both because they're going to determine how the rest of this very interesting week plays out but also because they're potentially going to determine how the biden presidency turns out in terms of whether or not he's going to get done what he wants to do as president but it's also really worth watching because the dynamics that play on capitol hill right now are new and different than they have been before if you are a if if you are someone who has been a long time watcher of democratic party politics in washington then you are accustomed to things working themselves out or not working themselves out things falling apart in certain predictable ways this is not that this is a departure from that well-trod path this is a new and different situation as i said this small bipartisan roads and bridges bill is a bit of a political science experiment it came from a weird place republicans who initially supported it won't support it now because they never wanted it in the first place but it's it's just a sliver of president biden's economic agenda the bulk of president biden's economic agenda is contained in a different much larger bill right the build back better bill that includes things like making the child tax credit a permanent thing which will have a huge impact on child poverty and on working class families in this country almost hard to overstate it'll make pre-k and community college universal and free it'll create a family and medical leave benefit for all americans it's a whole host of climate initiatives to transition the country to renewable fuels and electric vehicles more on that later and not only do the vast vast majority of elected democrats in the house and the senate support that entire agenda importantly the vast majority of the american people support it too every single poll shows broad support for pretty much every element of president biden's plan this doesn't happen in nature but it is happening with this bill many of the proposals are popular even among republican voters so when those handful of conservative democrats in the senate a tiny handful more like a pinch when they insisted on carving off this small piece of roads and bridges into a separate bipartisan bill the white house and the rest of the democratic caucus on capitol hill said you know okay we'll make you a deal we will back this small bipartisan bill that you want as your little science experiment we'll back that as long as we also get to pass the rest of the president's economic agenda too that said that's how we'd like to do it and if any of this is going to pass because the democratic majorities in the house and the senate are so small getting any of this done means getting all of this done and that is going to require all of us every single democrat agreeing to do this together that's the deal until in the last few weeks a tiny handful of democrats in the senate and the house started saying actually why don't we just pass the little one why don't we just pass the small bipartisan roads and bridges bill and then we'll get to the president's agenda the bulk of it later maybe if we feel like it sometime down the road well that was the vote that was supposed to happen today for the house to pass the small roads and bridges bill without the larger bill that contains the rest of president biden's agenda and what we are seeing right now with that vote being called off is nancy pelosi counting and nancy pelosi realizing that that was not going to pass because house progressives have essentially gotten up on their hind legs and they're flexing their muscles and they're saying you know what actually we mean it we are going to get president biden's full agenda passed we are going to make it happen and even though there's this handful of conservative democrats who are expressing grave concern about the larger bill being larger because large is scary even though the bill is totally paid for in part by taxes on corporations and the wealthy taxes that are in fact the most wildly popular part of the bill according to the polls i mean if you're the opposition the republicans who aren't even part of this conversation because they're simply a unified wall of no or if you're the sort of mealy-mouthed afraid of their own shadow middle that doesn't have strong policy preferences but is afraid to do anything big on any on any front you know if you're if you're contrary by impulse right the best thing you could do is to try to delay action on the biggest part of the president's agenda right delay is the closest you can get to death for this wildly popular legislation if you don't get it done if there is momentum to get it done it will be put off indefinitely and never get done whatever your inscrutable reasons for wanting that to happen delaying it means killing it and progressives are saying no we recognize that time is the enemy here that it's time to act the midterm elections are next year we are going to get this done the president was elected and a democratic house and senate were elected in order to pass the agenda that president biden ran on the polls show that that agenda is wildly popular in the country we have a way to do it that pays for itself we're gonna do it why would we not do it how would we keep our heads up and face our voters again for the midterm elections next year if with control of the white house control of the senate and control of the house and an agenda that is wildly popular that the president ran on that is stuff that the country needs we just couldn't figure it out progressives have decided no we're going to get it done and so that is why plans change today that's why there was no vote today because the progressives are insistent that the president's whole agenda is going to pass don't break off the little piece of it that you did as your experiment and then let the rest of it languish no we're going to do it all the chair of the congressional progress progressive caucus congresswoman carmilla jaipal told the washington post last night that the number of democrats in the house willing to vote against the small roads and bridges bill if it was on its own and not coupled with the rest of the president's agenda she reported that that number was already large but still growing she said that as of last night she estimated she had 60 no votes in her pocket in a democratic caucus where the margin for error is something like three total votes in the house if you've got 60 votes that you speak for that's the ball game and i think there there's one misconception here that i think is worth addressing directly and dispensing with it's not like the house progressive caucus is insisting on some plan that is more progressive than what president biden wants it's not like they're insisting on some plan that is more left-wing than what president wants they're not this is this is not what has been kind of lazily described in the beltway press forgive me as a fight between the progressives and the moderates as to how lefty this economic legislation should be the progressives are just saying actually we just want to pass the president's agenda our insistence as progressives is that we pass something rather than not pass it president's agenda has been clear from the beginning it is it is a concrete set of measures it has a price tag that is paid for it is wildly popular with the american people our insistence is that it gets done and there are a handful of democrats for their own mysterious ever shifting set of reasons they insist that the president's agenda just should wait let's instead pass the small roads and bridges bill right now we'll get to the rest of what we want to do later maybe never or we're scared of big things but the progressives are saying no let's do it and that's what's driving things right now and we have always had progressive members of congress but we have never really had them use their power quite like this not just to insist on policies being more liberal but to insist on the agenda being more effective they are not changing the agenda from the ostensi and taking it over from the ostensible moderates and the centrists instead they are pushing the timetable pushing the calendar insisting on action and the calendar is where things get really interesting this week and why washington is going to it isn't always but it's going to be a fascinating place as the center of the news universe this week because speaker pelosi may not have held the vote on the rhodes and bridges bill today because it wasn't going to pass but she has committed to holding that vote sometime this week let me just say we're going to pass the bill this week but you know i'm never bringing a bill to the floor that doesn't have the votes oh we know we know so how is this going to work especially because that's just one part of what congress has to get done this week i mean just in the next 72 hours or so speaker pelosi says the house is going to vote on that small bipartisan roads and bridges plan on thursday according to the house progressive caucus that bill is not going to pass without the rest of president biden's agenda which would mean that much larger bill that contains all that you know child care and education and climate stuff that would have to be hammered out with the senate and then voted on and passed by all 50 democrats in the senate chamber and if you're thinking well that sounds nion impossible just this evening the whole democratic in the house held a big meeting to try to hash out a way forward we're going to talk just a moment to the progressive caucus leader pramila jayapal about what went down in that meeting but at the very moment that house meeting was happening over on the senate side republicans were busy killing a bill that would have simply kept the government open and running past the next 72 hours and would have raised the debt ceiling thereby avoiding a deliberate default on the national debt and the economic calamity that would ensue democrats in the senate brought up a bill that would do nothing except keep the government open and avoid a self-inflicted financial calamity and the republicans filibustered it which means the democrats in the senate and the house are now going to have to figure out how to pass legislation by thursday night keeping the government running at some point very soon they're going to have to figure out how to avoid the country deliberately defaulting on its debt republicans have not just checked out on even the most basic tasks of governing they're trying to stop democrats from being able to do it themselves and a letter to her house colleagues as this very intense week dawned speaker pelosi wrote a letter to her colleagues that said spelled it out in very blunt terms she said quote the next few days will be a time of intensity she is not kidding and she knows of what she speaks and not for nothing the president's entire economic agenda the entire economic agenda of the democratic party and what they got elected to do and how they're going to run for reelection next year all of that is writing on what happens these next few days president biden likes to say that he and his allies in congress have to prove that democracy still works that it can still deliver practical policy that improves people's lives this week is the stress test for that proposition an eyebrow-raising story breaking tonight in the new york times this is the overlap in the venn diagram between oh that explains everything and wow tone deaf much this is what the times is reporting tonight it's about arizona senator kirsten cinema she of course is one of the key democratic votes needed to pass president biden's budget bill she's one of the key reasons it's not passing she apparently is scheduled to hold a fundraiser tomorrow with five different business lobbying groups which fiercely oppose the bill and want her to vote no on it the time is apparently obtained a copy of the invitation for the fundraiser the lobbying groups are listed there alongside the senator's campaign logo according to the times the attendees will have 45 minutes with the senator during which time they are expected to write her checks for thousands of dollars during the event and then she'll you know resume negotiations on the bill they are there to pay her to oppose 45 minutes get it done it's like a fire sale this isn't a situation rachel that we're often in where the house passes a bill and then we send it to the senate and then the senate says no we don't like that and then they do something and they send it back to us and then we conference them that takes a very long time and it's often it puts people in a very difficult position because house members don't want to vote for something that the senate isn't going to vote for we actually have said we're okay with that let's pre-conference it which means every part the white house the senate and the house all have to agree and that is the conversation that is finally happening because there is a deadline because we have said we're not going to vote for one without the other people are finally coming to the table and i am you know fingers crossed very hopeful that we can get there and right now if the plan is still to do infrastructure the infrastructure vote on thursday it sounds like the plan from you and the progressive caucus is still to vote that down unless there has been significant progress toward the build back better bill the reconciliation bill sounds like thursday might still be on be more on the bubble than the headlines would would make you believe i think that's right look i i think these are arbitrary dates i think monday was an arbitrate today was an arbitrary date that was set by a small group of people i think what's important is do we want to deliver on the democratic agenda and the president's agenda negotiations are happening i think i don't think the speaker will bring the vote to the floor if she doesn't the bill to the floor if she doesn't have the votes and i think she is very clear that without the reconciliation bill voted on um you know we are going to have it can't be a pinky promise right rachel it's got to be an actual bill that is written the legislative text is written the numbers are agreed to everything is agreed to um in order for us to be able to vote for the bipartisan bill and i think she's really clear on that so we're gonna do everything we can i've been having conversations over the weekend every single minute of every single day is taken up with this and um those conversations are really good they're very productive and i believe that we will continue to work and let's see if we can get it done by thursday great i've always been surprised at what happens here in the last 24 48 72 hours when there's a deadline but if we can't then we'll keep working and we'll get it done as soon as we can congresswoman pramila jayapal chair of the newly muscular congressional progressive caucus playing a a key and undersung role here thank you for your time tonight i know that time is precious as you say thanks for being here thank you rachel this is going to be fascinating to watch i am i have to say like i'm i am not although we cover tons of pure politics trump you know tons of not just electoral politics but policymaking um in washington it's not i feel like that's very rarely like the um the animating force of what i'm watching in the news this is one of those times when so much is riding on what happens between today and the end of the week i mean it really is going to be determinative in terms of whether or not the united states takes a big great society size leap toward a future that is a different future that is more oriented toward middle-class families and working-class families and making us have a resilient economy for the future or we're just going to get stuck and between now and the end of the week we are going to know that and it is going to have a generational impact and whether or not you're always closely watching watching washington this is one of those weeks that's really really really going to matter and the details are going to matter it's going to be fascinating to watch now you may or may not consider yourself an atv person or a pickup truck person for that matter i know but millions and millions and millions of americans do the ford f-150 that pickup truck is the best selling vehicle in america of any kind and it has been for four decades seeing these sectors of vehicles go electric and having the electric versions of these vehicles look just like the gas-powered ones that we know and love but with way more capability that is the kind of thing that is pushing our country that is pushing our country specifically with the tastes that we have it's pushing us fast now toward a tipping point on electric transportation which has huge implications for the climate and lots of other stuff but now look at this just as as we've been talking about tonight just as the congress is tying itself up in knots over whether or not to pass president biden's big build back better bill with all the infrastructure for electric charging stations and the credits for electric vehicles and all the rest look at what was just announced tonight tonight ford just announced that they are hiring 11 000 new employees 11 000 new jobs they are building a huge new electric vehicle manufacturing plant in tennessee plus three new electric vehicle battery factories in in tennessee and kentucky 11 billion dollars in new facilities for electric vehicle manufacturing in the united states did i mention this is 11 000 new jobs where is this coming from well that electric f-150 pickup truck i was mentioning that has the amazing towing capacity and all the rest of it the demand for that is turning out to be so strong they're scrambling to be able to meet the demand a hundred and fifty thousand people ordered one of those electric f-150 trucks months before a single one was available for sale you still can't go out and buy one they're not ready yet 150 000 people have pre-ordered them now it probably does not hurt that over these months since they announced it our electric grid keeps disintegrating everywhere like it's made of sugar and it's raining anywhere there's weather the electric grid goes down in our country now and if you've got an electric f-150 it really can power your house when the power goes down in your town so that's probably not hurting things but that demand reportedly really surprised ford and it has already caused ford to announce another quarter billion dollar investment in their existing facility in dearborn michigan they also already added another 450 jobs on the assembly line there to try to meet that demand and now tonight an 11 billion dollar expansion of the ford motor company 11.4 billion dollars in electric vehicle manufacturing and electric vehicle battery manufacturing 11 000 new jobs it's the biggest expansion of that company in the history of that company so here's my question are we ready all those millions of american-made high-tech batteries are going to go into millions of new electric american-made cars and trucks it is happening those electric american-made cars and trucks with electric american-made batteries are going to require charging stations all over america and in red states and in blue states in urban areas and out in the country this is a big deal for the country for the economy for the climate the country is making a change here and it is turns out it's happening fast turns out the demand is there turns out the technology is there i mean if the policy that makes this sort of change possible can keep up we're ready to go we should know that this week the country is moving the business is moving technology is moving people are changing their minds about this stuff and are ready to go in surprising numbers the question is can our government meet the moment and give us what we need as a country to make this leap forward that is part of the urgency in president biden's build back better bill part of that urgency is meeting this moment at the moment is here are we going to get there we will know this week tick tock [Music] you

Channel: MSNBC

Views: 364,592

Rating: 4.8060222 out of 5

Keywords: MSNBC, MSNBC latest, Politics, News, Rachel Maddow, kyrsten sinema, democrats, donors, congress, politics, gop, republicans, senators, PACS, msnbc, us news, news, nancy pelosi

Id: 2mQNzFMFF_U

Length: 20min 13sec (1213 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 28 2021