Sunday shows preview: Manchin and Schumer strike deal, GOP senators block burn pits bill

The deal between Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on a climate, health care and tax package and Senate Republicans blocking a bill to expand care for veterans suffering from burn pit injuries are expected to dominate this week’s Sunday shows circuit. 

After months of private negotiations, Manchin and Schumer announced Wednesday that they reached an agreement on a bill that will be part of a budget reconciliation package that Senate Democrats plan to bring to the floor this coming week. In a 50-50 Senate, reconciliation would allow Democrats to pass the bill along a party-line vote and avoid a Republican filibuster. 

The bill is significantly smaller than President Biden’s original Build Back Better proposal, a more than $3 trillion climate and social spending bill that Manchin announced his opposition to in December and effectively sank its chances of advancing. 

Manchin, a centrist who is widely considered the most moderate member of the Democratic caucus, had been negotiating with the White House and Democratic leaders leading up to his announcement. He had expressed doubts in the months that followed about reviving the legislation based on concerns about increasing prices further as inflation reached its highest level in four decades. 

Manchin will be appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CBS’ “Face the Nation,” CNN’s “State of the Union” and “Fox News Sunday,” completing what has become known as a “full Ginsburg.” 

The term is named for Bill Ginsburg, the attorney for former White House intern Monica Lewinsky during President Clinton’s Lewinsky scandal. Ginsburg appeared on all five major Sunday morning talk shows in one day, the first person to do so. 

About 30 people have completed the feat since Ginsburg did in 1998, most of them top political leaders during major national news events. Politico reported that the last person to complete a full Ginsburg was Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. 

Other political leaders who have completed the feat include Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary of homeland security when Hurricane Katrina hit the southeastern United States in 2005, and Raj Shah, who served as the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development when an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010. 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is the only person who has completed three full Ginsburgs, according to Politico. 

Although the bill has been trimmed down from Biden’s original proposal, its provisions still include major investment in climate and social spending and could be seen as a big win for the White House and Democrats. 

The legislation would invest $369 billion in energy-focused climate programs in the next decade while devoting $300 billion to deficit reduction. 

Climate activists have generally praised the proposal. Leah Stokes, an environmental politics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told The Hill that it will be “the largest climate investment in American history by far.” 

Schumer and Manchin said in a joint statement on the deal that the investment will lower emissions by about 40 percent by 2030. 

The legislation also includes a series of proposals to raise $739 billion in revenue, including a 15-percent corporate minimum tax, strong IRS enforcement of tax law and closing the carried interest loophole for money managers. 

It would also allow Medicare to negotiate directly to lower drug prices. 

Democrats are eagerly awaiting a decision from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), another moderate member of the caucus, on if she will support the deal. Gaining Sinema’s support would be a large boost to the bill’s chances of passing the Senate. 

Senate Republicans have meanwhile faced intense criticism this week for overwhelmingly opposing a bill that would expand health care coverage to military veterans who were exposed to burn pits and toxins while serving. Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting for the bill, but it fell five votes short of the 60 needed to defeat a filibuster. 

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who opposed the bill, said his opposition is not related to the focus of the bill itself but $400 billion in unrelated spending that he said was a “budgetary gimmick.” 

“My concern about this bill has nothing to do with the purpose of the bill,” said Toomey, who will appear on “Face the Nation” and “State of the Union.” 

Schumer said in comments after the bill failed that he offered Toomey the ability to propose an amendment to the bill after it received the 60 votes needed to advance, but Toomey insisted on passing the amendment in advance. 

The legislation would add 23 toxic and burn pit exposure conditions to a Department of Veterans Affairs database and expand care for Vietnam War-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange and post-9/11 veterans exposed to burn pits. 

The bill previously passed both houses of Congress overwhelmingly but needed to be passed in the Senate a second time because the House made minor changes in its version. 

Schumer said he will bring the bill up again on Monday to try to pass it. 

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) were two Senate Republicans who originally supported the bill before voting against it. Cassidy was one of the senators who originally introduced the bill in the body earlier this year. 

Cassidy will appear on “This Week,” while Barrasso will appear on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” 

Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this week’s Sunday talk shows: 

ABC’s “This Week” — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.); Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) 

NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Manchin 

CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Manchin; Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.); Neel Kashkari, the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis 

CNN’s “State of the Union” — Manchin; Toomey; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 

“Fox News Sunday” — Manchin; Tudor Dixon, a Republican candidate for governor of Michigan 

Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” — Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.); Charlie Kirk, president and founder of Turning Point USA; Miranda Devine, FOX News contributor and New York Post columnist; John Ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence; Harriet Hageman, Republican candidate for the House in Wyoming