Vice President Kamala Harris defended the Biden administration amid the news negotiations with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, had failed. Those talks concerned the stalled Build Back Better spending plan in the Senate.
Vice President Harris addressed the issue during an interview, eventually criticizing the host for "talking like a Republican" during their exchange.
Harris made the remarks on Comedy Central’s Tha God’s Honest Truth. The show's host, Charlamagne Tha God, asked where the “pushback” was on Manchin, who he said was allowed to “constantly hold up President Joe Biden’s agenda.”
Their exchange got a bit heated after Charlamagne Tha God said Manchin's resistance to the administration's agenda is “hurting Black people in particular.”
You can watch what happened in the video below.
In her response to Charlamagne Tha God's claim, Harris pointed to Republicans in the Senate, who she said are “consistently and unanimously standing in the way of progress.”
And when he asked Harris who "the real President of this country" is, Manchin or Biden, Harris hit back.
“C’mon Charlamagne, c’mon it’s Joe Biden. No no no no no ... no no no, it’s Joe Biden, and don’t start talking like a Republican about asking whether or not he’s President.”
“And it’s Joe Biden, and I’m Vice President and my name is Kamala Harris. And the reality is because we are in office, we do the things like the child tax credit, which is going to reduce Black child poverty by 50%—on track to do that.”
Charlamagne Tha God experienced criticism after clips of the interview circulated on social media.
Manchin has been widely criticized for delaying attempts by House and Senate Democrats to codify much of their economic and social policy agenda via a major spending bill.
The plan is part of efforts from the Democrats to respond to the climate crisis, invest in infrastructure and expand education, healthcare and childcare.
It would constitute the largest broadening of the social safety net in years.
During a local radio interview this morning, Manchin said Democrats had blundered in their efforts to court his vote since negotiations collapsed last week.
“They figured surely to God we can move one person. We surely can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protestors to make that person uncomfortable enough that they’ll just say, ‘OK I’ll vote for anything.”
“Well, guess what? I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive, period."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, announced talks between Biden and Manchin will continue, though he did not offer a timeline.
Charlamagne Tha God and others fail to recognize there are 50 Republicans in the Senate.
There is one Democrat and 50 Republicans who refuse to help the United States' poor and middle classes.
That's hardly an indictment of the Democratic party or the Biden administration.
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