Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), a key moderate Democrat, said on Sunday that he can’t support President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending plan.
“We don’t have the need to rush into this and get it done within one week because there’s some deadline we’re meeting or someone’s going to fall through the cracks,” Manchin said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“It’s absolutely not acceptable to me. I don’t think it’s acceptable to the president for the American people, whether the overwhelming majority of the people in the Democratic caucus,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) told host Dana Bush on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“This is an unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority that really disrupts and divides the country. It divides our partnership between the federal government and the states, and it increases the division in terms of vaccination when we should all be together trying to increase the vaccination uptake,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) on Sunday said his attorney general and officials from other states are looking into how they can “attack” President Biden’s new vaccine mandate in court.
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Sunday said the new federal vaccine mandate announced by President Biden could “discourage some vaccination” in the near term.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Sunday criticized the Republican Party for fundraising off of vaccine mandates, contending that the strategy is “playing on people’s fear.”
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said on Sunday that the private sector has to do its part in order to tackle the current surge of the COVID-19 virus in the wake of President Biden directing private business owners to require vaccinations or weekly testing if they have 100 or more employees.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) recalled the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that occurred 20 years ago, saying that at the time, he thought the events would bring about another world conflict.
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Taliban that took over Afghanistan last month has not changed since it last ruled the country and warned that the insurgent group would “continue to provide a safe haven for terrorists.”
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on Sunday said the implementation of term limits for justices on the bench would “make life easier for me,” as Democratic lawmakers are increasingly pushing the 83-year-old justice to step down and allow President Biden to install a liberal replacement.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on Sunday reflected on how he hopes to be remembered for his service on the bench, saying he wants people to think he “did his best.”
