Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Wednesday signaled that she is not giving up on the reconciliation package’s $3.5 trillion topline, despite some Democratic leaders’ suggestions that a smaller price tag of $2 trillion would get centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to come around to supporting the sweeping legislation.
The first week in my first contracts class in law school the professor told us to never bid against ourselves. He was right. So is Liz. The Democrats have a proposal on the table. SineMan has an obligation to tell the Democrats exactly what they want cut. Asking the Democrats to lower the top line is asking them to bid against themselves.
The number is what matters to the headline writers, so it is all that matters to the headline grabbers. Eff those attention seekers and good for Senator Warren for calling out their strategy.
Manchin will want to cut anything that touches his West Virginia coal interests. He also wants to add stuff the others don’t, like insisting on including Hyde Amendment language (Federal abortion funding ban). As for Sinema, who the hell knows what she wants other than attention.
Warren replied that she will not “negotiate against myself” while demanding that those on “the other side” — referring to Manchin and Sinema, both of whom continue to put up a fight over the reconciliation package’s price tag — make their demands clear.
BINGO! My wife teaches negotiations and her mantra is always “don’t negotiate against yourself! Wait until the other side makes a clear counteroffer”
I’ve had the pleasure of watching Elizabeth Warren grill a whole lot of folks on YouTube, including John Stumpf from Wells Fargo, Betsy DeVos, Jerome Powell as Fed Chair, and Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan. She very deftly questioned them, not letting them wiggle out of providing direct answers. It was like watching a person who has just caught a big batch of fish expertly using a filet knife. She’s relentless!
Warren replied that she will not “negotiate against myself” while demanding that those on “the other side” — referring to Manchin and Sinema, both of whom continue to put up a fight over the reconciliation package’s price tag — make their demands clear.
That’s just too sensible: giving away the farm trying to second guess yourself is a fool’s errand.
Nancy is dealing with other possible compromises. It is possible that both Liz and Bernie are both given their head (by Nancy and/or the WH) to decide how much they wish to insist on 3.5T in open interviews.
Whatever the case is, we have to lock down a Deal.
I’m not sure that’s it. I think they don’t want to counter because they want to keep it a moving target. If they never counter, then their offer can’t ever be accepted. I really think they want nothing to pass.
Yep. The reason they don’t want to say what they’ll cut is because absolutely none of it will play well back home. Oh, you wanna cut childcare? Pretty sure poor and middle-class families in WV and AZ would have something to say about that. You wanna cut the Medicare portion? Tell poor and middle-class seniors in WV and AZ that they don’t need no stinkin’ glasses, dental care, or hearing aids.
Why aren’t we talking about 350B topline?!!! That’s what is being proposed on an annual basis. Compare this with 721B annual defense spending. We’re ALREADY negotiating against ourselves in the court of public opinion.