Infrastructure and a 9/11-style commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol dominated the Sunday morning political shows.
White House officials last Friday presented a $1.7 trillion counterproposal to Republicans in pursuit of a bipartisan deal on infrastructure, reducing the price tag of President Biden’s infrastructure proposal by $550 billion.
Two days earlier, the House passed a bill to establish a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, earning relatively little support from Republicans as GOP leaders sought to quash a bill negotiated by one of their own members.
Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to President Biden, said the administration’s counterproposal on infrastructure illustrates a “willingness to negotiate in good faith.”
When asked by host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” if Biden is willing to “narrow his plans and his scope even further” to land a bipartisan deal on infrastructure, Richmond highlighted the administration’s counterproposal, which decreased their initial plan by $550 billion.
“The president coming down $550 billion off of his initial proposal I think shows the willingness to negotiate in good faith and in a serious manner. And the real question is whether the Republicans will meet the effort that the president is showing,” Richmond said.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said on Sunday that Republicans and Democrats have “fundamental differences” when it comes to President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan.
“I think it’s too early to create a commission, and I believe Republicans in the Senate will decide that it’s too early to create that commission,” Senior Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt (R) told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “Commissions often don’t work at all and when they do work, like the Simpson-Bowles commission, produced a good result, nothing happened as part of that result.”
“To me it’s a no brainer. You look what happened in 9/11, and we were attacked by foreign terrorists, and we wanted to find out immediately, where was the breakdown, what happened and why. Well this is no different,” former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on Sunday that regardless of whether or not an independent commission is created to investigate the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, the riot l will impact the 2022 midterms “particularly if us as Republicans don’t take ownership for what happened.”
Robert Gates, former Defense secretary under both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, said in an interview aired on Sunday that of the five Republican U.S. presidents he worked for, “I don’t think any of them would recognize the Republican Party today.”
“It was critical to get to the ceasefire, and President Biden’s focus on relentless, determined, but quiet diplomacy is what got us to where we needed to be, which is to get the violence ended as quickly as possible, to stop more human suffering and to at least put ourselves in position to make a turn to make a pivot to building something more positive, that has to start now with dealing with the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday called for an “even-handed approach” to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and said the U.S. must lead the world in bringing people together instead of “supplying weapons to kill children.”
“Until they show me evidence that people who have already had the infection are dying in large numbers, or being hospitalized or getting very sick, I just made my own personal decision that I’m not getting vaccinated because I’ve already had the disease and I have natural immunity,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said.
Republican Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.) denounced comments made by fellow GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) who compared the mask policy on the House floor to the Holocaust, calling them “beyond reprehensible.”
Sen. Cory Booker (R-N.J.) on Sunday said lawmakers are “making meaningful progress” in police reform negotiations, adding that he remains focused on eliminating qualified immunity.
