- Good evening and welcome
to the Washington Week Extra,

I'm Yamiche Alcindor.

As the war in Europe continues,
President Biden says he

is trying to blunt the economic
effects here in the US.

This week inflation climbed to
7.9% hitting a 40 year high.

And the economist
expect that number

to increase throughout March.

Many Americans are feeling
the quickly rising costs.

- It is really
killing us out here.

- I mean, it's crazy.

I was just talking
today with my wife

and with my father-in-law.

It's like I think dollar,

dollar and 1/2 more
than last week.

- So many Americans
can in some ways

I think really be familiar
with their feelings.

Joining me tonight to discuss
this and all the anxiety

out there is Sahil Kapur,

Senior National Political
Reporter for NBC News

and MJ Lee, White House
Correspondent for CNN.

Well, thank you both
for being here on set.

So happy to have
people in front of me

that I can talk to you.

MJ, I wanna start with you.

A white house official today
pointed to this Ipsos poll

and it really found that three
and five Americans surveyed

by this poll said 63% of them
will continue to be willing

to pay for more gas to
support a democratic country.

So that's 63% of
Americans saying,

yes, I will go to the pump and
pay more money because of...

To support Ukraine essentially.

But a Wall Street Journal poll
shows a majority of voters,

63% said they disapproved the
President Biden's handling

of rising costs.

It's sort of this sort
of double edged sword,

63% being the
common number there.

How does the White
House sort of see this,

they're pointing to one
poll but there obviously

is this other poll that
it's not in their favor?

- Well you know
the reality is that

when gas prices are high,

the easiest person for people
to blame is the president.

We've obviously seen
the president talk
a whole lot recently

about the things that
he hopes he can do

to try to contain gas prices.

But as we've talked
about a lot this week,

there are not very many
things that he can do

that can sort of make the
prices come down overnight.

This is not a problem that
is unique to this president.

Every president that has
experienced inflation,

rising gas prices,
those problems,

it's a struggle because
this is the policy issue.

The problem is that you
can't do anything overnight

to make gas prices go down.

I think when you talk
to White House officials

and particularly those
close to the president,

they will consistently say
they believe that gas prices

is the one issue that they
believe the public feels

as sort of the most
tangible issue,

whether it's gas prices
and going to the pump

and seeing that price are
going up or going to the store

and seeing that grocery
prices are higher.

They know that this is an issue

that the public
understands as inflation.

- Yeah and Sahil, you
wrote a story this week

with the headline
and it has to be read

because it was so great.

Republicans cheer
Russian oil ban,

endear President Biden
for rising gas prices.

You got to rhyme there
but that's a real issue

for Democrats and
for President Biden.

- It is a tough one because
what are they going to do?

They're facing an enormous
amount of pressure

to dole out punishments
to the extent possible,

they're economic punishments
and military punishments.

What's better?

Sparking a full scale military
conflict between the US

and Russia or imposing
economic punishments

and accepting some
of the blame at home.

The question is how this
battle plays out politically?

How the Democrats and
the president frame it?

Do they set expectations
accordingly?

Are they able to as President
Biden tried to do today,

pin blame entirely on Vladimir
Putin and his invasion

or do voters end up
blaming the president?

I mean the reality is
voters don't always look

at these things in
a super nuanced way,

they don't study the details
of what is the president doing,

what can he do?

You know what do his
opponents wanna do?

If they feel frustrated, they
take it out on the incumbent.

And that is the
biggest challenge

that Democrats face
going into 2022.

- And if I could
just quickly say,

I think inflation and
particularly high gas prices,

that's the reason
that this White House

is having a hard
time selling some

of the more positive data points

that we've seen in the economy.

Whether it's wage growth,
jobs growth, GDP growth.

I think people hear those terms

and it doesn't really
translate to them as,

oh the economy is working
well for me because for them,

their everyday experience
is more defined

by going to the gas pump
and seeing that it costs

so much more to fill
up their gas tank.

Going to the grocery
store and seeing

that everything
costs so much more.

So, it's almost impossible
for this White House

to tout that there has
been economic progress

which there certainly has been

as long as inflation
remains an issue.

- Yeah.

And it's a good point
to think about sort of

how the White House is trying
to push out the good news

but having to really deal
with Americans really focused

on the bad news.

I wanna stick with you
MJ because we talked

about this being
domestic challenges.

We saw two vice presidents
abroad this week.

We saw the current Vice
President Kamala Harris doing

as much as she can to talk

about sort of this
administration's
support of NATO allies

but we also saw a
former vice president,

Mike Pence on the border
of Ukraine and Poland.

I just wanna talk a little
bit about sort of what's going

on there especially when it
comes to the fact that the VP

is being put out
by this White House

and really trying
to give her a voice

because she's obviously
had some challenges.

- Well, for both vice presidents
that we're talking about,

these were big
forum policy trips

where they certainly wanted them

to be big foreign policy trips.

For this vice president,
certainly foreign
policy is an area

where she has a little
bit less experience

to put it lightly
than the president.

And it was a really important
test for her, right?

Can she sort of rise to the
moment, speak with authority,

speak on behalf of the president

and the American people and
really sort of make it known

to the United States'
allies that we are with you

and we're all doing
this together.

As for the former
vice president,

I think that maybe
we should be talking

about 2024 and 2024 aspirations.

This is somebody who is

like many other national
Republicans sort of waiting

to see what former
President Donald Trump does

in terms of his own
2024 decision making.

But in the meantime,
it seems pretty clear

that there are folks out
there in the Republican party

who are going to be sort
of doing our own thing

to make sure that their
name is getting out

and that they're sort of
being seen on a global stage.

- And Sahil talking about
2024, President Biden

is gonna have to be pushing his
agenda and what he got done.

We saw Congress this week
pass government funding bill

but we also don't see
Build Back Better,

we see a deconstructed
version of it.

What's your reporting tell you
about the president's agenda

and sort of how things
are going forward.

- Well firstly I think the last
two weeks, the sleeper story

of the last two weeks
in Washington has been

that Build Back Better
still has some life in it

just in a different form.

Don't use the name, the
White House has decided

to completely rebrand it.

- [Yamiche] We're
done with the name.

- Done with the name,

done with the
highlighting the price tag

and the massive
transformational stuff.

They're rebranding it solely
for an audience of one,

Senator Joe Manchin who
opposed the house past version

and effectively killed
the previous bill.

And I've spoken to Senator
Manchin a bunch of times

and he's become more specific

about what he's
willing to support.

And it turns out
there's a lot of it

that he's willing to support.

The major hundreds of billions
of dollars in tax increases

on corporations and
upper earners even more

than what the house passed.

He's willing to support
hundreds of billions of dollars

in savings for prescription
drugs which Democrats would love

to tout as a counter
inflationary measure.

And he says, here's the catch.

He wants to use about 1/2 of it

to fight inflation
and the deficit.

The other 1/2 he says,
use it on anything

that Democrats want that he
can support which is a lot,

clean energy, climate
change, healthcare.

The problem is
Democrats are gonna have

to make some very difficult
sacrifices on things

like the Child Tax
Credit, Universal pre-K,

a bunch of other
provisions, paid leave,

you know that they have many
Democrats strongly support.

But this thing does have life

and it looks like
the White House

and Democratic leaders have
finally started turning

the gears to get this done
in a way that he can support.

- And talking about
difficult sacrifices.

COVID got stripped out of
the government funding bill.

It's clear the White House
is not happy about that,

they're very worried about
how much money they have

to deal with upcoming things,

the upcoming complications
of this pandemic.

What are you hearing from
the White House about

what they're gonna do now that
COVID money was not passed?

- Well, I think
it's disappointing

for the White House
particularly at a moment

when they are now finally
ready to embrace sort

of this next phase
of the pandemic.

For the entirety of Joe
Biden's presidency so far,

he has been running a country

that has come under all
these pandemic measures

and finally we are at a
point where people feel like

and health officials
that they're consulting
with feel like.

Yeah, we are ready to move
on to sort of stage two

where we are sort of living

with the pandemic but it
isn't necessarily sort

of the front page
story every day,

it isn't necessarily sort
of the first questions

that Jen Psaki might
get asked about

at the White House briefing.

So this idea that the money
that is desperately needed

to make sure that
they are moving

to this next stage
might not be there,

that is very, very
disappointing for them.

- And other news, domestic news

'cause this is sort of it's
just a domestic fruit bowl here.

The US Postal Service also
got some money this week,

there was a big overhaul
passed in Congress.

So what can you
tell us about that?

- Yeah, a major reform bill
for the postal service.

It passed with the support
of about 80% of lawmakers

in the House and the Senate.

One of those rare
bipartisan things

where the parties come
together and do it.

It makes a number of
changes to the post office

so it sets mail delivery
for six days a week.

It eliminates this requirement,

this unique to the postal
service that you have

to prefund retiree
healthcare benefits

for 75 years which
nobody else has.

It puts future retirees
in Medicare to save money.

The most optimistic
estimate suggests

that it could save
up to $50 billion

although the real number
could be closer to about 27

or so depending on
who you talk to.

And that wasn't all.

The Congress actually
had a fruitful week,

it was a 1.5 trillion
government funding bill-

- You say that with like
why are we not talking

about this in your voice?

- Well, we are.

(Yamiche laughs)

A trillion and a half
in government funding

on an omnibus deal that
seemed highly doubtful

just a few months ago.

I made a list here, the Ukraine
aid that we did discuss.

The Violence Against Women Act,

a bill written in the 90s
by a Senator named Joe Biden

at the time has been
dormant for several years,

it got reauthorized, sent to
now President Biden's desk.

And the Emmett Till
Antilynching Act passed

this week going to
the president's desk

after more than 100
years and 200 attempts,

it will for the first
time make lynching

a federal crime going
to the president's desk

for a signature.

- All really, really big deals.

One last question for you Sahil,
you had a scoop this week.

We like talking
about scoops here.

It was on Judge Jackson

who could potentially
become Justice Jackson.

Talk about your scoop
and what the latest is

with her nomination?

- 59 former justice
department officials including

some heavy hitters like
a former AG Loretta Lynch

and a former acting AG
Sally Yates put out a letter

to the top Democrat
and Republican

on the Judiciary
Committee championing

Judge Jackson's nomination
for the Supreme Court.

And this comes as she's making
the rounds on Capitol Hill,

meeting with the key Senator
she needs to get confirmed.

Two crucial votes to watch,

Senator Joe Manchin who
we just talked about.

The Democrat from West Virginia
and Senator Susan Collins,

the Republican from Maine
if there is a bipartisan.

Any bipartisan support to
be had, it starts with her

and both of them had
very positive things

to say after meeting with her.

So, so far so good for
turning Judge Jackson

into Justice Jackson.

- Even though I said that
was the last question

in some ways just watching
MJ thinking about the list

that Sahil just laid out,
the Supreme Court Justice,

the White House still is
like in some ways looking

at all of this and saying
we are doing good things

but what's their plan for
getting that out there

for making sure people know.

- It is very, very difficult.

You look at the last
two, three weeks.

This white house
and this president

has been completely
consumed by foreign policy

and what is going on
with Russia and Ukraine.

It's difficult for him
when he has opportunities

to interact with reporters
to not get asked about that

as he should be because
there is a war going on.

It's difficult for White House
Press Secretary Jen Psaki

to not get questions
and a lot of questions

at that about the war.

So yeah, it is going to be
a challenge for them to talk

about some of the positive
accomplishments that they think

that they are having and
anything else sort of

on the domestic agenda which
they do feel like they to turn

to particularly as we start
getting closer to the midterms.

- Well, a lot to talk to,

we'll have to leave
it there tonight.

Thank you so much for our
guest for joining us in studio

and for sharing your reporting.

And thank you of course at
home for joining and watching,

goodnight from Washington.

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