Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working to pass a much narrower
version of the once ambitious build back better bill, while the White
House continues to navigate how best to secure abortion protections
after the fall of row to discuss the political stakes of all this.
I'm joined now by Tamara Keith of NPR and Annie Linskey of The Washington
Post. Amy Walter is away. Welcome to you both. Thank you for being
here. I think it's fair to say that was a very sobering report from
Laura Barone. Lopez there, Tim, we have covered you.
Have covered individual moments like that for years. When you see
it pulled together like this, What does it say to you About this
moment? We're in as a nation. There is a rising fear in many corners
of this country that political violence that the country is just
crackling and ripe for even worse political violence than we've seen
thus far. Also, I will add that the Q and on conspiracy theory is
full of violent imagery of fantasies of assassination.
Oceans of political enemies, You know a long list of political enemies
taken off to Guantanamo. That imagery is very much part of Q and
on which is very much part of the political dialogue.
Uh, in America on the right, Um, and it can't be ignored and you
stay on the right there because it's a key point to make, and we
just heard their Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. Say, Look,
it's up to the voters to decide if this is acceptable to them or
not. It is clear the Republican Party now houses these kinds of conspiracy
theorists, extremist ideas, authoritarian ideas. Do you see anything
among leadership or on the electoral landscape? That would change
that? I mean, that was such a powerful report and I think hearing
Mitch McConnell's response, which is essentially let's let the voters
decide is a unique response and the Republican side I mean, I think
Tam is absolutely right that the Q and on theory certainly does have
this imagery. But, you know
We have all been to political rallies where you know, emotions run
high and and, you know, I've been a democratic events where certain
people in the audience become, you say violent things. And the difference
is, the leadership on the Democratic side will tend to turn the volume
down a little bit rather than sort of stepping aside, which is what
McConnell is doing, or what some of the other people in the candidates
for office in that report are doing, which is really
Ages, fostering and normalizing the kind of extreme violence that
we are not used to in modern politics feel like it's become normalized
on that side. At least you just see so many of those ads and you're
also not seeing the response from the leadership and to me those
two things that sort of silence or even the sort of gentle nudging
that direction
combined with it, just seeing more and more of it. I mean, that is
the path to normalization right there. We've seen, Of course, Democrats
come out and condemn it. The president has come down and condemned
it several times.
Is over. But he's also of course, got an eye on this quickly closing
legislative window. I think it's fair to say and when we talk about
build back better. First of all, it's a phrase we haven't heard a
lot of lately. This is not the ambitious plan they once put forward.
So what does it mean? Right now? Essentially when you look at the
fact that this
Plan was brought down by a member of their own party by Senator Joe
Manchin. As president. Biden has said many times over the last year
and a half in a 50 50 Senate. Every senator is president and Joe
Manchin has a every senator, including Joe Manchin. But especially,
Joe Manchin has an outside vote on these matters. The White House
is seemingly willing to try to bag any wind that they can get. And
so they have pivoted from not really wanting to talk about defeat
on the on the
Climate measures that were being discussed.
And sort of holding out hope. But I don't know what kind of hope
they're holding out to talking about what Joe Manchin will support
and what President Biden will take, which is
Without congressional action. There is going to be a cliff, huge
spike in obamacare premiums that would hit millions of American families
as they're dealing with higher prices on so many things, and right
before people go to vote in the midterms, so that would be kind of
a political nightmare. If that is allowed to happen, so
This legislation. They're talking about this very, very, very, very
pared back. Legislation would take care of that Obama player upon
my care Cliff and would also allow Medicare to negotiate prescription
drug prices. Details Obviously still to be worked out, problems could
still arise. But the idea is these are two things that
Affect Americans, and it's something that Democrats could campaign
on it. As long as they leave out the fact that this big, bold build
back better went away necessary. CAVEATS So details still to be worked
out. Things could still change any. What's your take on this? I have
to say it's very fashionable right now, among certain people to,
you know, talk about what a terrible job Joe Biden is doing. I mean,
his approval rating is awful. Um, and this is a much smaller package
than he had conceived of.
And he had talked about in his people have talked about that being
said. You know, for this to pass a cap on prescription drugs. I mean,
it would actually be quite a big win. Even though it's not the giant
win. It's not the like medium win. It's still a win, and it's one
that you know. Democrats and Republicans have diabetes. They both
pay for high cost of insulin, and this is the type of legislation
that could you know help, certainly around them around the edges
and perhaps
More in the midterms, Tim. What about the White House response in
the fallout?
After the fall of Rome faced a lot of criticism for not having something
ready sooner to respond to that and secure some of those protections.
What are they saying about that? It seems as though this White House
and the fall of Rome was just the latest example. But this White
House
Is it sort of unwilling to flaunt their executive authority that
the president you know other presidents do executive actions that
amount to basically glorified press releases, But they treat it like
a really big deal. And this president has executive actions. Now.
Maybe there is some criticism that they may be waited a little bit
too long on the executive actions to respond to the Supreme Court
decision, But you know that instead of trumpeting it, President Biden
and his team emphasis
Size that
Well, their powers are really limited. There's only so much they
can do, and it almost seems like they're headed down that path on
climate change related administrative actions as well in the House.
Of course, we've seen Democrats taking what action they can They
want to show they're trying right even if it doesn't go anywhere
in the Senate. But the most coherent message among Democrats right
now just seems to be look, if you want these rights protected show
up in November and vote. Is that fair? I think that's certainly what's
coming from the top of the party. I think it's absolutely not enough.
Half for voters, and even you're seeing lawmakers who are, you know,
state legislators really pointing the finger to Washington and even
to Joe Biden himself, even the President Biden himself and saying
This is not enough do better. There's one lawmaker in Texas who came
out and said, Look, We need a little bit less Washington and playing
nice from Joe Biden and a little more Texas a little more of a rough,
you know, edge here, and so they want to see a fighter, and I think
to Tamara's point. I mean, this was not a surprise by any means.
And so for Biden to take so long to put out an executive order that
shortly had been prepared well in advance is remind boggling to a
lot of people. He's just really an imperfect messenger on
This particular issue.
Um, and has left a lot of Democrats sort of wanting more. And when
we say too long, we should point out to the leaked draft of that
ruling came out in late May, right. The decision in late June. It
was two weeks as my recollection is that when the court signal that
they were picked going to take the case, I mean, arguably, there
is an entire year to prepare. Um and certainly, ever since the leak
decision came out, there was clear that this is was a pretty good
signal for the court was going during those two weeks. President
Biden was on an overseas trip.
Dealing with Ukraine and other crises and
Then, just this last week, he was also on another foreign trip, so
he's had a very busy travel schedule. But you know, this is a White
House as every white house who says they can walk and chew gum at
the same time, do we? Are we likely to see any other action from
them on this front? I don't think so. It's hard to see at this point.
I think they've kind of emptied the arsenal, but I mean
Democrats are still pushing and if there's anything that this White
House has responded to, it has been being pushed from their party.
Also, it may not be you know, a signed executive order. It could
well be actions taken at the at the agency level that don't get as
much attention unless they were to, you know, touted
Which they are likely to do, Tam
Who knows we will follow it all. It's certainly very important. Tamara