MSNBC’s Joy Reid believes President Joe Biden’s administration make a “strategic mistake” in negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
During an appearance on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Tuesday, Reid said, “If I had to give one big criticism to the administration, I think they made one big mistake. When you’re negotiating particularly with difficult parties like Joe Manchin…you don’t negotiate by saying, ‘Let me just give you everything you want, now can I get something?'”
“The one thing [Manchin] wanted was that infrastructure bill. You gave it to him. What makes you think you have leverage over him now? He’s already figured out how they’re going to spend that money in West Virginia and what things are going to be named Manchin, ‘Manchin Bridge’ … There’s nothing left to give him. He does not want Build Back Better, that’s clear,” she continued.
Finally, she said, “That was an administration mistake. The idea of negotiating with him by giving him everything he wants and then begging him to help you with the things he doesn’t care about, I think that was a strategic mistake.”
Watch the video below:
MSNBC’s @JoyAnnReid says White House made a “big mistake” with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Build Back Better:
— The Recount (@therecount) January 26, 2022
“The idea of negotiating with him by giving him everything he wants and then begging him to help you with the things he doesn’t care about … was a strategic mistake.” pic.twitter.com/6EefnzqCI9
Her comments come as Biden’s agenda is largely stalled in Congress.
Last year, Biden attempted to pass a nearly $2 trillion spending package along with the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Progressive Democrats wanted a commitment from Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) that they would vote for the spending package before the House passed the infrastructure bill.
However, in November, the House passed the infrastructure bill without a commitment from Sinema or Manchin.
The next month, Manchin sunk Democrats’ hopes of passing the spending package when he revealed on Fox News that he would not vote for it.
Earlier this month, Manchin voted against Democrats’ push to change the Senate filibuster so they could pass voting rights legislation with just 51 votes.