Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)

Asked whether he could support a $6 trillion reconciliation proposal of which half of it would be paid for, according to reports by Politico and Bloomberg, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said flatly, “No.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)

also raised concerns about the sheer size of the proposed reconciliation package, …

“We have to be conscious of the debt,” Manchin said.

He said potentially adding $3 trillion to the national debt is “a lot.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.),

[said he] doesn’t agree with more liberal colleagues on how much to spend.

“There are going to be some hard conversations inside the caucus about what’s aspirational versus what’s real,” he said.

“I made it very clear that there are a lot of things that the president laid out, there are categories that I approve of. Some of the numbers I don’t approve of,”

GRIZZLES: Warner says it will be a stretch if the bipartisan group can hit the mark in the coming days. … One of the biggest issues in both proposals is how to pay for them.

WARNER: But how can we do this in a way that's tangible and real and doesn't break the bank?

Progressives were also facing pressure from Democrats who blamed November election losses on the infrastructure bill's delay, noted one progressive House staffer who requested anonymity to speak freely with The Intercept. Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia argued Terry McAuliffe, the party's candidate, could have won the governor's race if the framework was already signed into law.

"He was not somebody on the left … He was kind of a sleazy politician. But he has become a new FDR.”

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)

"We have been saying this for weeks that this would happen," "Having [the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better] coupled together was the only leverage we had. And what did the caucus do? We tossed it."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)

"Maybe they'll believe us next time. Or maybe people will just keep calling us naive,"

“I’ve been urging my colleagues to keep this a family conversation and not work through their emotions and concerns in editorials and public speeches, but to convey their concerns to our president. He has been listening,”

He has got to say, I am prepared to take on corporate greed, massive income and wealth inequality and stand with the working class in this country. He does that, he's going to win, and win big.

Sanders

Yes, he has spoken to me in recent days and I hope to be meeting on a regular basis with the White House to hammer out an agenda that speaks to the needs of the vast majority of the people

Look, Mark is a friend of mine, I like Mark, is one of the more conservative members of the Democratic Caucus. No, I have not been invited. No, I will not attend.

this is not a beauty contest, it's not a Grammy Award contest. It is a contest of who stands with the vast majority of the people in this country, the elderly, the children, working class, the poor. And that candidate is obviously Joe Biden.

Warner tried unsuccessfully days earlier to organize a meeting between Biden and Democrats concerned over his health and political viability, only to run into a defiant defense by the president and his allies, particularly Black elected officials in Congress and Virginia's General Assembly.

Kaine said Democrats who try to address concerns about Biden's age by saying that the presidency is a team effort help a bit to address worries.

"But it's not a complete answer. I mean, it is the case that the team is very important," he said. "And what you've seen with the Biden team is you haven't seen a lot of drama, not a lot of people leaving, not a lot of turnover, not a lot of chaos. It's very stable team. And that's important."

You'd have thought the Virginia Democrat who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee and documented how Russian adversaries helped elect their preferred American president in 2016 was attempting to overthrow the one that Putin's perceived pal aims to defeat in 2024.

Yes, we would have. Good luck trying to spin this.

In reality, all Warner reportedly wanted was a sit-down with Biden at which Warner and other senators would share their fears for the fall directly with the president, possibly making the case that his duty to Democrats includes ensuring they avert disaster. It was Warner, who is given to panic attacks despite his come-let-us-reason-together manner, being Warner.

And Build Back Better? If Warner is just prone to panic attacks, that explains it. But don't let anybody fool you by telling you Biden has stuttered all his life.

That's because Kaine, seeking a third, perhaps final term and doing so with an icy focus that belies his folksy demeanor, …

While Warner sounds out Washington insiders – other members of Congress, high-dollar strategists and members of the left-leaning, coastal donor class – Kaine is engaging the base back home; in particular, its most reliable component: Black voters and elective officials,

Leaving movements and coalitions in disarray and in Harrisonburg resulting in going from a moment of an all-Black City Council to no ability for independent Black representation to make a motion and a second, to possibly and end to effective representation.

Kaine's Senate campaign can assist up and down the ballot, steering Black voters to Biden and congressional candidates in three open and contested seats in Northern Virginia and along the Atlantic coast.

So, Black people need Kaine to tell them they like Biden, and he will inspire them to rush to vote for Biden by expressing guarded optimism about his ability to do the job.

As an incumbent senator intent on remaining one, Warner has standing get-togethers with core supporters. These meetings ? held around the state several times a year ? are intimate in that they are not disclosed to the larger Warner World. They're anything but intimate given that they can draw 30 or more senior aides, longtime advisers and top donors.

Yes. He does this. We've seen minders from his circle in many places.

This episode is unique in another respect: It spotlights a rare rift between Warner and Kaine, friends since their overlapping years at Harvard Law School as well as back-to-back governors. They are akin to an old married couple, voting alike but pursuing different, albeit complementary interests.

Good cop, bad cop. It is not a rift. It is a routine.

Whether facing an opportunity or an obstacle, Warner, the state's senior senator and former governor who flirted with a presidential bid in 2008, reflexively calls meetings. He's Virginia's convener-in-chief

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)

“President Biden has got to prove to the American people — including me — that he’s up to the job for another four years. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to do what I’ve always done: Stand up to President Biden when he’s wrong and protect our Montana way of life,

Though not present on the call, lawmakers from the Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio and Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida, were quick to defend Biden from their colleagues calling on the president to step aside.

Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Bobby Scott spoke in support of Biden, according to one of the sources.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett

That's what I have been doing. I have been working hard to make sure that people understand why it matters to have this president in office, to make sure that they understand that, if we are still allowed to have history books, that he will go down in history as one of the most effective presidents that we have ever had in the United States.

And so, for us, this is about doing what is right and recognizing what this president has done. Even if it hasn't said, oh, this was for the Black folk, we can tell you that he has done a lot specifically for the Black community, whether we're talking about the debt relief that has been sustained as a result of the student loan debts, or whether we're talking about the fact that he has decided that those that had felony convictions or federal convictions as relates to marijuana, making sure that he could clear that up.

There is so much that he's done, whether we're talking about putting the first Supreme Court justice that is a Black woman on the Supreme Court or appointing more African Americans to our benches as a whole or investing over $14 billion in HBCUs, a number that has never been had. In fact, the previous administration did about $253 million.

So let me tell you, we understand what this president has done and is willing to do specifically for our community.

Rep. Lou Correa

To put it in football terms, Biden “did have a bad first quarter. He got sacked in his own end zone,” said Correa. “But I want to see what the quarterback does after getting sacked. And he’s starting to move the ball, starting to drive and pick up steam again. That’s what I expected from Joe Biden.”

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine,

Biden, she said, “is the most accomplished president of the last 50 years, taking action on prescription drug prices, manufacturing jobs, antitrust, climate and consumer protection.”

“I’m not saying that everyone who wanted him out did it in a mean-spirited way, but I just really did not appreciate the process,” she said. … But the Queens member of Congress won’t forget what happened. In her view: Democratic insiders, hellbent on manipulating the party toward and sometimes for their own ends, forced a good man out of his job against his will.

“I don’t know if there will be any official reckoning,” … “I think that’s way above my pay grade. I personally do keep receipts, but, you know, that’s just me.”

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada

"He's always had Nevadans' backs, whether it's on the picket lines, protecting our personal freedoms, or lowering costs — now it's time for us to have his,"

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.)

“The voters in Nevada care about a thriving and equitable economy, taking on big corporations to lower costs and protecting the hard fought freedoms, rights and opportunities we’ve earned,” Horsford said. “They’re focused on moving forward and reject the divisive politics of those who would like to take us back.”

Rep. Kwase Umfume

Joe Biden all the way. Joe Biden!

i think he is our best hope to make sure donald trump doesn't get into the whitehouse.

Warnock defended Biden's record on lowering prescription drug costs and his efforts to mitigate the burdens of student debt, despite continued setbacks for the president`s loan relief agenda being setback in court battles.

What is puzzling from a tactical and political perspective is why the protesters calling for a cease-fire are aiming at Durbin, an ally in the cease-fire cause.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo.,

said she and Biden were facing the same fight against extremist Republicans.

One [plotter wearing "bold progressive" colors] who spoke with The Intercept on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely

“There is a divide between the most progressive members who feel like they need to show fealty for self-preservation or for future ambition and those who are willing to just hang back and not offer support because they don’t need anything,” said the strategist, who is in regular communication with Squad members’ staff.

Both Bush and Bowman came under criticism from their opponents for lodging protest votes against President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill – which was not as climate-friendly as they had hoped – on its way to passage in 2021. (Only six Democrats, in all, joined most Republicans in opposition.)

Bell had no shortage of local endorsers, but, in addition the United Democracy Project’s big outlay, big spenders on his behalf included the Democratic Majority for Israel, the pro-crypto Fairshake PAC and billionaire Reid Hoffman’s Mainstream Democrats.

Bush had the backing of the Squad-supporting Justice Democrats, which spent nearly $2 million on ads. Bush and her allies had sought to paint Bell as an opportunist for abandoning a planned campaign for Senate to run against Bush and had highlighted his past ties to Republicans and current overlap with GOP donors

“Whether I’m congresswoman or not, I’m still taking care of my people,” she told her supporters Tuesday evening as she denounced the outside spending against her. “Because your side is so weak, you had to spend $19 million.”

They weren’t able to match the flood of outside spending, but Bush had aimed to turn out more of her base in Tuesday’s primary by out-organizing Bell. She’d been elected in a wave of activist enthusiasm when she unseated longtime incumbent Lacy Clay in 2020 and had hoped to reactivate her supporters this year.

Virginia Legislative Black Caucus

The most consequential president since at least LBJ.

Other goals he’ll outline include passing the PRO Act to “end union-busting once and for all,”

Multiple sources

Multiple sources said some of the most senior advisers to Biden – including adviser Anita Dunn, attorney Bob Bauer and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon – faced the ire of the president’s family in the aftermath of the debate.

One guess as to which side of the MMT fence they are on, if this report, which insinuated 12 members of Congress and failed to deliver, is actually true.

“While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch.

https://www.aaronregunberg.com/issues-cd1 https://gndchampions.com/candidate-pledge/ https://gndchampions.com/info/ https://www.factcheck.org/2024/01/bidens-numbers-january-2024-update/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/19/biden-ads-drop-out-super-pac/74472406007/ https://wjla.com/news/local/presidential-race-joe-biden-donald-trump-demonstrators-rally-white-house-elections-2024-vice-president-defeating-washington-dc

“I don’t know how you campaign with a broadening electoral map without money. I don’t know what they’re doing. I don’t know,” one major Democratic donor told CNN on Friday. “I’ve never seen this strategy where you think you can win without money.” …

Still, the Biden campaign has boasted record-breaking grassroots fundraising.

This doesn't sound like campaign that doesn't have the popular support to win against Trump. It sounds like the Bernie campaign.

I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term, but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, and that includes personal ambition.

So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life, but there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices, and that time and place is now.

Where has President Biden displayed personal ambition in seeking the presidency? Mike Quigly lambasted him for not having personal ambition. Who did we hear about having personal ambition, from President Biden, Mark Warner. From the Richmond Times Dispatch, Mark Warner. Joe Manchin refused to confirm or deny his ambition. What President Biden did was to circumvent personal ambition from disrupting the party by advancing Kamala Harris.

Two of the most disturbing moments of the ABC interview, Quigley said, were Biden saying he hadn’t watched the debate and all that really mattered was him giving his best effort to win the election.

U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas said.

I think people all across the Granite State have been communicating to me that they wanted a stronger case to be made from President Biden about his vision for the future and to be able to hold President Trump accountable,"

Biden’s decision did not have to do with any medical issues

Khan has been at the forefront of the Biden administration’s push to use U.S. antitrust law to boost competition and address high prices and low wages.

Rep. Bennie Thompson Backs Biden Remaining As Nominee: ‘We All Have to Rally Behind Him’

Incentivize Ending Exclusionary Zoning and Expanding Housing Choices. Exclusionary zoning laws – like minimum lot sizes, mandatory parking requirements, and prohibitions on multifamily housing – inflate housing and construction costs and lock families out of neighborhoods with more opportunities. In the American Jobs Plan, President Biden is calling on Congress to enact the Unlocking Possibilities Program, an innovative, new $5 billion competitive grant program that awards flexible and attractive funding to jurisdictions that take concrete steps to eliminate needless barriers to producing affordable housing and expand housing choices for people with low or moderate incomes.

Activate vacant land and buildings to create community amenities. The Community Revitalization Fund will support a wide range of projects, including: upgrading access to natural areas, adaptive reuse of vacant buildings and storefronts to provide low-cost space for services and community entrepreneurs (such as health centers, arts and cultural spaces, job training programs, business incubators, and community marketplaces), and removing toxic waste to create new parks, greenways, urban agriculture, and community gardens. The Fund will promote the best of American equitable and resilient design, advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 climate goals and building a strong link between past and future. This includes in-fill development that reknits areas damaged by urban renewal and the revitalization of commercial corridors with locally-owned businesses and services.

Strengthen social cohesion and build community wealth. The Community Revitalization Fund will prioritize projects that strengthen social cohesion through shared use and civic engagement, and build community wealth and equity for existing residents. The Fund will encourage innovative approaches to achieve those goals, including land acquisition, creation of new businesses and stronger connections to existing employment centers, establishment of community investment trusts and similar wealth-building models, and projects that provide for intercultural and intergenerational mixing.