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- Good evening and welcome 
to the Washington Week Extra,

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I'm Yamiche Alcindor.

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As the war in Europe continues, 
President Biden says he

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

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

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And the economist 
expect that number

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to increase throughout March.

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Many Americans are feeling 
the quickly rising costs.

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- It is really 
killing us out here.

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- I mean, it's crazy.

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I was just talking 
today with my wife

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and with my father-in-law.

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It's like I think dollar,

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dollar and 1/2 more 
than last week.

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- So many Americans 
can in some ways

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I think really be familiar 
with their feelings.

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Joining me tonight to discuss 
this and all the anxiety

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out there is Sahil Kapur,

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Senior National Political 
Reporter for NBC News

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and MJ Lee, White House 
Correspondent for CNN.

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Well, thank you both 
for being here on set.

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So happy to have 
people in front of me

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that I can talk to you.

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MJ, I wanna start with you.

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A white house official today 
pointed to this Ipsos poll

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and it really found that three 
and five Americans surveyed

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

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to pay for more gas to 
support a democratic country.

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So that's 63% of 
Americans saying,

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

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To support Ukraine essentially.

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

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63% said they disapproved the 
President Biden's handling

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of rising costs.

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

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63% being the 
common number there.

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How does the White 
House sort of see this,

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they're pointing to one 
poll but there obviously

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

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- Well you know 
the reality is that

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when gas prices are high,

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the easiest person for people 
to blame is the president.

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

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about the things that 
he hopes he can do

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to try to contain gas prices.

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

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there are not very many 
things that he can do

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that can sort of make the 
prices come down overnight.

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

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Every president that has 
experienced inflation,

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rising gas prices, 
those problems,

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

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The problem is that you 
can't do anything overnight

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to make gas prices go down.

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I think when you talk 
to White House officials

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and particularly those 
close to the president,

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they will consistently say 
they believe that gas prices

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is the one issue that they 
believe the public feels

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as sort of the most 
tangible issue,

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whether it's gas prices 
and going to the pump

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

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and seeing that grocery 
prices are higher.

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They know that this is an issue

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that the public 
understands as inflation.

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- Yeah and Sahil, you 
wrote a story this week

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with the headline 
and it has to be read

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because it was so great.

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Republicans cheer 
Russian oil ban,

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endear President Biden 
for rising gas prices.

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

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for Democrats and 
for President Biden.

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

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They're facing an enormous 
amount of pressure

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to dole out punishments 
to the extent possible,

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they're economic punishments 
and military punishments.

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What's better?

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Sparking a full scale military 
conflict between the US

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and Russia or imposing 
economic punishments

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and accepting some 
of the blame at home.

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The question is how this 
battle plays out politically?

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How the Democrats and 
the president frame it?

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Do they set expectations 
accordingly?

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

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pin blame entirely on Vladimir 
Putin and his invasion

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or do voters end up 
blaming the president?

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I mean the reality is 
voters don't always look

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at these things in 
a super nuanced way,

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

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what can he do?

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You know what do his 
opponents wanna do?

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

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And that is the 
biggest challenge

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that Democrats face 
going into 2022.

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- And if I could 
just quickly say,

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I think inflation and 
particularly high gas prices,

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that's the reason 
that this White House

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is having a hard 
time selling some

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of the more positive data points

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that we've seen in the economy.

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

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I think people hear those terms

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and it doesn't really 
translate to them as,

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

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their everyday experience 
is more defined

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by going to the gas pump 
and seeing that it costs

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so much more to fill 
up their gas tank.

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Going to the grocery 
store and seeing

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that everything 
costs so much more.

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So, it's almost impossible 
for this White House

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to tout that there has 
been economic progress

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which there certainly has been

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as long as inflation 
remains an issue.

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- Yeah.

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

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

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but having to really deal 
with Americans really focused

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on the bad news.

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I wanna stick with you 
MJ because we talked

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about this being 
domestic challenges.

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We saw two vice presidents 
abroad this week.

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We saw the current Vice 
President Kamala Harris doing

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as much as she can to talk

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about sort of this 
administration's 
support of NATO allies

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but we also saw a 
former vice president,

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Mike Pence on the border 
of Ukraine and Poland.

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

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

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is being put out 
by this White House

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and really trying 
to give her a voice

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because she's obviously 
had some challenges.

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

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these were big 
forum policy trips

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where they certainly wanted them

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to be big foreign policy trips.

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For this vice president, 
certainly foreign 
policy is an area

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where she has a little 
bit less experience

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to put it lightly 
than the president.

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

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

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speak on behalf of the president

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and the American people and 
really sort of make it known

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to the United States' 
allies that we are with you

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and we're all doing 
this together.

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As for the former 
vice president,

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I think that maybe 
we should be talking

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about 2024 and 2024 aspirations.

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This is somebody who is

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like many other national 
Republicans sort of waiting

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to see what former 
President Donald Trump does

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in terms of his own 
2024 decision making.

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But in the meantime, 
it seems pretty clear

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that there are folks out 
there in the Republican party

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who are going to be sort 
of doing our own thing

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to make sure that their 
name is getting out

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

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- And Sahil talking about 
2024, President Biden

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

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We saw Congress this week 
pass government funding bill

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but we also don't see 
Build Back Better,

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we see a deconstructed 
version of it.

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

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and sort of how things 
are going forward.

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

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of the last two weeks 
in Washington has been

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that Build Back Better 
still has some life in it

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just in a different form.

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

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to completely rebrand it.

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

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- Done with the name,

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done with the 
highlighting the price tag

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and the massive 
transformational stuff.

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

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Senator Joe Manchin who 
opposed the house past version

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and effectively killed 
the previous bill.

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

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and he's become more specific

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about what he's 
willing to support.

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And it turns out 
there's a lot of it

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that he's willing to support.

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The major hundreds of billions 
of dollars in tax increases

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on corporations and 
upper earners even more

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than what the house passed.

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He's willing to support 
hundreds of billions of dollars

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in savings for prescription 
drugs which Democrats would love

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to tout as a counter 
inflationary measure.

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And he says, here's the catch.

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He wants to use about 1/2 of it

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to fight inflation 
and the deficit.

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

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

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clean energy, climate 
change, healthcare.

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The problem is 
Democrats are gonna have

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to make some very difficult 
sacrifices on things

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like the Child Tax 
Credit, Universal pre-K,

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a bunch of other 
provisions, paid leave,

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you know that they have many 
Democrats strongly support.

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But this thing does have life

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and it looks like 
the White House

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and Democratic leaders have 
finally started turning

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

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- And talking about 
difficult sacrifices.

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COVID got stripped out of 
the government funding bill.

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

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they're very worried about 
how much money they have

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to deal with upcoming things,

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the upcoming complications 
of this pandemic.

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What are you hearing from 
the White House about

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

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- Well, I think 
it's disappointing

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for the White House 
particularly at a moment

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when they are now finally 
ready to embrace sort

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of this next phase 
of the pandemic.

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

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he has been running a country

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that has come under all 
these pandemic measures

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and finally we are at a 
point where people feel like

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

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

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where we are sort of living

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with the pandemic but it 
isn't necessarily sort

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of the front page 
story every day,

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it isn't necessarily sort 
of the first questions

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that Jen Psaki might 
get asked about

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at the White House briefing.

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So this idea that the money 
that is desperately needed

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to make sure that 
they are moving

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to this next stage 
might not be there,

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that is very, very 
disappointing for them.

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- And other news, domestic news

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

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The US Postal Service also 
got some money this week,

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there was a big overhaul 
passed in Congress.

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So what can you 
tell us about that?

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

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It passed with the support 
of about 80% of lawmakers

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in the House and the Senate.

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One of those rare 
bipartisan things

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where the parties come 
together and do it.

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It makes a number of 
changes to the post office

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so it sets mail delivery 
for six days a week.

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It eliminates this requirement,

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this unique to the postal 
service that you have

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to prefund retiree 
healthcare benefits

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for 75 years which 
nobody else has.

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It puts future retirees 
in Medicare to save money.

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The most optimistic 
estimate suggests

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that it could save 
up to $50 billion

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although the real number 
could be closer to about 27

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or so depending on 
who you talk to.

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And that wasn't all.

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The Congress actually 
had a fruitful week,

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it was a 1.5 trillion 
government funding bill-

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- You say that with like 
why are we not talking

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about this in your voice?

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- Well, we are.

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(Yamiche laughs)

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A trillion and a half 
in government funding

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on an omnibus deal that 
seemed highly doubtful

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just a few months ago.

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

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The Violence Against Women Act,

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

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at the time has been 
dormant for several years,

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

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And the Emmett Till 
Antilynching Act passed

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this week going to 
the president's desk

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after more than 100 
years and 200 attempts,

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it will for the first 
time make lynching

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a federal crime going 
to the president's desk

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for a signature.

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- All really, really big deals.

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

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We like talking 
about scoops here.

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It was on Judge Jackson

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who could potentially 
become Justice Jackson.

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Talk about your scoop 
and what the latest is

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with her nomination?

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- 59 former justice 
department officials including

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some heavy hitters like 
a former AG Loretta Lynch

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and a former acting AG 
Sally Yates put out a letter

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to the top Democrat 
and Republican

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on the Judiciary 
Committee championing

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Judge Jackson's nomination 
for the Supreme Court.

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

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meeting with the key Senator 
she needs to get confirmed.

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Two crucial votes to watch,

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Senator Joe Manchin who 
we just talked about.

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The Democrat from West Virginia 
and Senator Susan Collins,

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the Republican from Maine 
if there is a bipartisan.

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Any bipartisan support to 
be had, it starts with her

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and both of them had 
very positive things

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to say after meeting with her.

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So, so far so good for 
turning Judge Jackson

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into Justice Jackson.

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- Even though I said that 
was the last question

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in some ways just watching 
MJ thinking about the list

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that Sahil just laid out, 
the Supreme Court Justice,

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the White House still is 
like in some ways looking

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at all of this and saying 
we are doing good things

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but what's their plan for 
getting that out there

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for making sure people know.

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- It is very, very difficult.

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You look at the last 
two, three weeks.

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This white house 
and this president

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has been completely 
consumed by foreign policy

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and what is going on 
with Russia and Ukraine.

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It's difficult for him 
when he has opportunities

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to interact with reporters 
to not get asked about that

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

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It's difficult for White House 
Press Secretary Jen Psaki

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to not get questions 
and a lot of questions

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at that about the war.

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

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about some of the positive 
accomplishments that they think

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that they are having and 
anything else sort of

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

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to particularly as we start 
getting closer to the midterms.

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- Well, a lot to talk to,

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we'll have to leave 
it there tonight.

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

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and for sharing your reporting.

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

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goodnight from Washington.

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(upbeat music)