Psaki Tells Reporters To Go Pester Manchin and Stop Asking Her: ‘I Certainly Encourage You All to Keep Asking Him Questions About Where He Stands’
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.
As Congress tries to figure out what the heck they are doing this week — the latest update is that they have decided to not shutdown the government, at least this week — White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been getting question after question after question about how the negotiations are going, as the Biden administration and Democratic leadership attempt to strike a deal with the various factions in their party to get these massive spending and infrastructure measures passed.
Thursday, Psaki seemed to have had enough of getting asked about the intentions of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), one of the moderates whose objections have been a major roadblock in getting the $3.5 trillion spending bill passed.
“It sounded to me” that Sen. Manchin’s position was “firm,” said a reporter, asking Psaki if she thought he was really going to stand on that or if he’d be willing to negotiate further.
“We could certainly parse Senator Manchin’s words,” Psaki replied, “but I am certain he’ll go answer questions again and your colleagues should ask him more questions.”
“But why do you think that this is not — why do you think that Senator Manchin’s position on this is not final?” the reporter asked.
“Because this is an active negotiation,” she said, “because he was pushed repeatedly during the gaggle that he did on Capitol Hill about where he stood.”
“But again, I’m not here to speak for Senator Manchin,” Psaki added. “He certainly can speak for himself and what his points of view are, and I certainly encourage you all to keep asking him questions about where he stands.”
Watch the video above.
