WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders said it’s time for Democrats to change course on Joe Biden’s agenda and have senators vote on portions of the president’s key economic bill, then seek to pass what remains as a package.
After six months of “so-called negotiating” with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, “we need to start voting,” Sanders, I-Vt., said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “We need to bring important pieces of legislation that impact the lives of working families right on to the floor of the Senate.”
Biden’s tax-and-spending package, dubbed "Build Back Better," only needs 50 votes to pass under reconciliation in the Senate and avoid a Republican filibuster. Negotiations have dragged on over the last year, sinking the president and his party’s approval ratings as Manchin of West Virginia and Sinema of Arizona hold out on key portions of the bill.
