Briahna Joy Gray, former national press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign, said Wednesday that she believes President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are not “sincere” in their commitments to bipartisanship when passing legislation.
In an interview on Hill.TV’s “Rising,” Gray reacted to news that Biden had cut off talks with Republicans on an infrastructure deal, instead now engaging with a bipartisan group of senators to reach a compromise.
Gray said, however, that she doesn’t think opposition from Republicans or a few more moderate Democrats are to blame for the lack of progress on infrastructure and other spending negotiations.
“I think that this whole last three or four months or so has been a really important lesson for those that might have thought that it was enough to go blue no matter who, get a Democrat in office and presume that the ‘D’ next to their name meant they had some kind of foundational commitment to the ideals we thought we broadly shared,” Gray argued.
“I’m talking about the bedrock basic promises that Joe Biden made in the course of his own campaign, promises like a $15 minimum wage and a public option, which are now on the cutting room floor,” she said.
“I don’t think that Joe Manchin has a sincere commitment to bipartisanship, I don’t think that Joe Biden has a sincere commitment to bipartisanship,” Gray continued. “I think that they have both obviously supported bills that didn’t get any bipartisan support, for example, the latest COVID relief bill.”
Watch part of Gray’s interview above.
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