Biden’s approval rating at his first 100 days
White House senior adviser Anita Dunn said Thursday there is not a specific timeline for Congressional Democrats to go it alone on President Biden’s sweeping infrastructure proposals as negotiations continue on Capitol Hill, emphasizing a desire for bipartisanship.
Biden, she said during an appearance on MSNBC, would “prefer to work in a bipartisan way, he would prefer to have Congress work in a bipartisan way.” But, she added, “At the end of the day, if we have to move forward, we will move forward.”
Asked if there was a deadline for making a decision to proceed via the reconciliation process, which would require a simple majority of Democrat votes in the Senate, she explained that the nation “was in a crisis” during efforts to pass the Covid relief package, when that process was last employed.
“We really could not wait for a long, protracted legislative process,” she said of the Covid-19 relief bill.
But with the infrastructure proposals now, Dunn said, “These are investments in our future, so they don’t have the same crisis that the rescue plan had, but they’re important. And as the President has said, inaction is not an option.”
She continued, “We’re going to work with Democrats and Republicans, we’re going to see how far we can get. So we don’t have a firm deadline out there. We’re going to wait and see how much real cooperation. What kind of good faith negotiations we can get and so far we’ve been encouraged, as the President said last night, by Republicans in the Senate who are engaging with us on infrastructure and other issues.”
Pressed on the narrow majority in Congress, she said it is the “beginning of the process” and Biden will be talking with bipartisan lawmakers.
Dunn also previewed efforts to sell the package to Americans more broadly during a travel blitz titled the “Getting America Back on Track” tour.
“We’re gonna be out there, Cabinet members, everybody, telling the American people what’s in these plans, and what’s in it for them,” she said.
