President Biden met with 10 Republican Senators in the White House Monday evening after they had requested to meet in order to present and discuss the COVID relief bill written and proposed by the GOP.
Most importantly, the meeting and offer by by Republicans was meant to offer President Biden an obvious opportunity to make good on his repeated pledge to bipartisanship and unity – or to reveal if that was always malarkey.
Unfortunately Biden had no interest in utilizing this opportunity to fulfill his promise, and instead clarified that the bipartisanship and unity promise was a farce, even doubling down by directly supporting the House and Senate Democrats’ plan to ram their bill through Congress via the hyper-partisan budget reconciliation process, in order to pass it on a party line vote without a single Republican vote.
“While there were areas of agreement, the President also reiterated his view that Congress must respond boldly and urgently, and noted many areas which the Republican senators’ proposal does not address. He reiterated that while he is hopeful that the Rescue Plan can pass with bipartisan support, a reconciliation package is a path to achieve that end
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, 2/1/2021
…
The President will not slow down work on this urgent crisis response, and will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment.”
Prior to the meeting:
Full Briefing Video:
