Progressive Democrats’ Appetite For Deficit Spending Remains Insatiable, Call $1.5 TRILLION Bill ‘Too Small to Get Our Priorities In’
Albert Turkington
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Over the last few decades, many Republicans and even more Democrats have had episodes of fiscal profligacy, with each one more ludicrous and out of touch than the last. From more than eating up the increased revenues that came in from Reagan’s tax cuts to the worse peacetime deficits than even the Great Depression under Obama, it would have appeared that the progressive wing of the Democrat party would need to work hard to outdo this track record. The last year and a half appears to have presented them with the perfect cover to check off everything on their wish list.
According to The Epoch Times, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington fired shots at Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, whom many would consider to be the last remotely sensible Democrat in the Upper House, for his proposal to recalibrate the reconciliation budget down to a merely colossal $1.5 trillion, significantly smaller than the planetary $3.5 trillion bill that was the brain child of no other than Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Rep. Jayapal apparently found the still significant $1.5 trillion bill and its generous outlays to be woefully insufficient to execute the progressive agenda she and other “squad” members have in mind for the country. Sen. Manchin’s longstanding concern regarding the initial $3.5 trillion colossus was that it would inevitably result in another nasty round of consumer price inflation. Such eminently reasonable words coming from a Democrat Senator has left many to wonder why the Appalachian Senator has not yet switched parties.
Over the last few days, progressive Democrats have been bitterly at odds with their more reasonable counterparts, who do hold kingmaking power in both chambers of Congress should they decide to exercise it, regarding how fiscally reckless the federal government ought to be.
According to Breitbart, Rep. Jayapal had a rather telling exchange with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” where she displayed what many would deem a total lack of budgetary sanity nor any concrete idea of what she as the Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus wishes to accomplish with this dispute. When asked by Bash for an estimate on what she would like the final price tag of the bill to be after she failed to provide an exact numerical figure, Jayapal said that “I don’t feel the need to give a number. I gave a number it was 3.5. If you are in a negotiation, you need to have a counteroffer before you bid at yourself.”
Jayapal continued to demonstrate her deft in all matters of statecraft when Bash attempted yet again to purse an estimation from her by saying that “I don’t have a definite number yet. I don’t have a counteroffer. It would be like buying a house and going in to make an offer, and somebody says, what’s the lowest number you would take? Why would I do that?”
In stark contrast, Sen. Manchin clarified during a recent press conference last week that his $1.5 trillion proposal already represented a significant olive branch on his part as he was not keen on the reconciliation budget at all. “I wasn’t trying to be the fly in the ointment at all. I’ve never been. I’ve never been a liberal in any way, shape, or form. No-one has ever thought I was.” Manchin said. “For them to get theirs, I guess elect more liberals. I’m not asking them to change. I’m willing to come from zero to 1.5 [trillion].”
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