senator manchin wants to pack. the house committee has a proposal to $2 trillion doing away with tax breaks. not good enough to be vague and i do not understand how this time in world history we cannot talk about the crisis of climate change what we want to do. it is inexcusable. i said many times and i say this is a grandparent, i do not want my generation to have to look their kids and grandchildren in the eye and say we failed you the plan is not uninhabitable. >> talking about specificity here -- [inaudible] that's not a realistic number, the present setback. are you willing to concede that we .5 is too much right now? >> no, i do believe too little to be frank with you. what i have said, it's going to be a different take. >> you and senator manchin just cap different amount of use of government control and the site, how do you resolve these differences? >> i'm not here to disparage senator manchin, i respect him. what i would say is this, i know media talks about compromise and all that stuff, we got 48 senato

senator manchin said he wants to tax the wealthy good. the house ways and means committee passed a proposal that includes as i understand about $2 trillion in it doing it with tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations. i do not understand, to be honest with you, how it this time in world history you cannot talk about the crisis of climate change and tell us what you want to do. that is really inexcusable. i've said many, many times and i've said this as a grandparent i do not want my generation to have to look their kids and their grandchildren in the eye and say yes we failed to in the planet is now uninhabitable. yes? >> senator, some of your house colleagues and said they understand 3.5 is not a realistic number. the president has also said that. are you willing to concede 3.5 is too much right now question or. >> am willing to succeed? no. to be frank with you. what i have said it can be give and take prince's part of the process we will be in the room in that give-and-take. >> human senator manchin different fundamental views

joe manchin may be the last one. do you think anybody will come out of the woodwork and the democratic party elected officials in support joe manchin. his position on strict limits to spending with work requirements for example and his concerns about inflation and government spending, to me are common sense, anybody can understand the and support including myself. >> a couple of things is very respectful but he understands school has issues when it comes to the environment but that's not where it stops in west virginia he looks at senator byrd as a mentor and he said i'm in a seat he liked to make deals and cared about the process i think he feels an allegiance to that. here's what i think is happening kyrsten sinema condenses and from a purple state, she's tougher than anyone thought, my bigger question mark kelly is up in a year end a purple state a lot of people believe it's a republican state, john mccain had that seat, if mark kelly wants to keep that is he making it easier for republicans to take him out becaus

>> no. >> manchin! squander the opportunity. >> a nice family from "the daily show" to take us off the air tonight. that is our broadcast this thursday night. with our thanks for being here with us, on behalf of all our colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. there is a lot going on tonight in washington. a lot of moving parts. just this hour on capitol hill a lot of stuff that we are going to see develop, we think over the course of this hour while we are on their. now, at the very end of last night show, you might remember, we showed you some footage. that we got in just at the last second that we got off the air. from last night's congressional baseball game. this game happens every year. it's been going on for over a century. it's supposed to encourage commodity, in lawmakers. how is that going? if [laughs] but these games are supposed to if these games are supposed to be some kind of be some kind of a rescue respite from the pressures of from the pressures of capitol hill, la

they were saying sinema and manchin should tell us what they want. apparently joe manchin did. chuck schumer knew that was manchin's number. in late july they both signed a letter obtained by "politico" that made clear manchin's number was $1.5 trillion. now here we are. we're on the brink of the president's agenda blowing up all because of his own party. okay? so let's get to it, the folks who are experts on all of this. there are they are in the thick of it. joining me now, senior reporter kaitlan collins and ryan nobles. we're almost into friday and there has been no vote. nancy pelosi sent out a new letter. talk to me about it. >> don, that letter really isn't offering us much clarity in terms of where this is headed tonight. i talked to three different sources familiar with her writing saying we shouldn't interpret this letter to say there is not going to be a vote tonight. it says, it has been a day of progress in search of building back better. work is being done. discussions continue with the house, senate and white house to reach a bicameral framework agreement to buil

manchin hopes that would send a signal. he would then wait and see if that move had any impact on the negotiations. after about a week, he said, he would change his voter registration from democratic to independent. manchin told associates that he was prepared to initiate his executive plan earlier this week and had mentioned the possibility to biden. leading off our discussion tonight, david corn -- with msnbc -- norma norton's teen -- at the american enterprise -- is arena maxwell, the host of the program zerlina, that is on the choice from msnbc exclusively on peacock. david corn, senator manchin has responded to your reporting today. let's begin. by listening to senator manchin's colorful response to your reporting. look >> i can't control rumors -- be ul l -- >> i'm just writing that down, he said capital be. david, your official response to this senator's response to your report. >> well, he's not right. he's knows he's not right. he apparently, i assume he knows what he's been saying the people of the past couple day

which senator manchin opposes. the stuff that senator manchin says he does not, like senator sanders wrote that all of those things would help west virginia. he wrote, quote, pull off their poll shows overwhelming support for this legislation. get the political problem we face is that in a 50/50 senate we need every democratic senator to vote yes. we now have only 48 yes votes, two democratic senators remain in opposition, including, west virginia senator joe manchin. again, senator biden and -- senator sanders, publishing that in senator manchin's hometown paper in west virginia, with senator manchin did not like, he doesn't like anybody else talking to west virginia except for him. he responded to that in a sniff the statement that said in part, quote, this isn't the first time an out of state or has tried to tell was virginians what is bad for them, despite having no relationship to our state. i will not vote for a reckless expansion of government programs. no opted from a self declared independent socialist is

joe manchin is in favor of spending $1.75 trillion, and joe manchin is in favor of raising taxes including income taxes on the rich to pay for that package and no republican currently serving in the united states senate has ever voted for a tax increase on anything. there are reports today that congressional democrats are now rushing to reach an agreement on the biden social infrastructure bill. majority leader chuck schumer said this today on the senate floor. >> everyone is going to have to compromise if we're going to find that legislative sweet spot we can all get behind. nobody will get everything they want, but no matter what, our final proposal will deliver the core promise we made to the american people. we're getting closer to an agreement. we want to finalize a deal by the end of this week, but we all must keep moving together. >> chuck schumer knows that in a 50/50 senate, the most important vote joe manchin has cast this year in the senate was the vote to make chuck schumer the majority leader and put democrats in charge of every committee of the senate. chuck schumer knows the

. >> reporter: manchin hearing it from both sides. >> tell joe manchin don't give in to this liberal manchin. >> if you see joe, tell him to keep up the fight, just like he's always done. >> reporter: but he feels no pressure in meeting his party's october 31st deadline. >> do you think it's possible to get this done by october 31st? >> i really don't know what the timing is. there's no rush on timing. let's do it and do it right. >> so sanders and manchin have also been sparring over the strategy to pass that $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan. manchin wants the house to ps that immediately. sanders supported a delay in order to get manchin and sinema to sign on to that safety package which has caused unease among top democrats. the number two democrat dick durbin told me there's, quote, high anxiety among democrats. he wants manchin and cinema to close the deal. >> high anxiety. manu raju, thank you. >>> so you have bernie sanders and joe manchin locking horns. this started after sanders went after manchin in an op-ed in the newspaper in manchin's home state west virginia. and manch

so senator manchin has the right to fight for his point of view. he is a member of the senate. but two people do not have the right to sabotage with 48 want and the president of the united states want. that to me is wrong. >> would it be feasible to hammer this out? >> that discussion has taken place. in your discussions with president biden, have you encouraged him to not scale that number back? >> if we were in a room we have to go somewhere in the middle. we are not in the position but to go down to where two people want it seems unfair, not to mention. >> whenn you lifted off the measures as opposed to is that ityour understanding senator manchin is calling for significant cost? >> we need some specificity here. you want to cut climate, cut climate. tell us with some specificity what you want. >> as i understand it, i am not privy to everything but i think the position has been she doesn't negotiate publicly and i don't know what that means. i have heard that she is opposed to having medicare negotiate prescription drug prices and lowering prescription drug prices. i've hea

manchin very much did not like. he does not like anyone else talking to west virginians except him. he responded in a snippy statement that said, quote, this isn't the first time an out-of-stater has tried to tell west virginians what's best for them despite having no relationship to our state. i will not vote for a reckless expansion of programs. no op-ed from a self-declared independent socialist is going to change that. so all of that made it seem like the prospects for democrats figuring something out, coming to some kind of resolution, it seems like those prospects were getting more and more remote as senator manchin seemed to be getting more dug in and more prickly about it all the time, but then today happened. i mean, for the first time since these talks began, you had the lead progressive negotiator, congresswoman pramila jayapal, somehow managing to get into the same room as one of the two elusive senators holding up this deal. from the very beginning, because we care about the policy and human drama of it

well, apparently joe manchin did. chuck schumer knew that was manchin's number. in late july they both signed a letter obtained by politico that made clear manchin's number was 1.5 tril $1.5 trillion. and here we are on the brink of the president's agenda blowing up all because of his own party. let's get to folks who are experts on all of this. joining me now cnn's chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins and cnn's congressional correspondent ryan nobles. good evening to both of you, pins and needles. i want to get to the capitol first. so ryan, that means you. we're almost into friday and there has been no vote. house speaker nancy pelosi just sent out a new letter. so talk to me about it. >> and, yeah, don, that letter isn't really offering us much clarity onto where things are heading here tonight. i talked to three different sources familiar with their thinking saying we shouldn't interpret this letter as saying there will not be a vote here tonight. in fact, this is part of what the letter reads. it has been a day of progress in fulfilling the presid

and of course, west virginia senator joe manchin. he's been far more vocal about the fact he's not onboard, and been more specific, to his credit. today, there was this leak of a document that manchin signed in july saying he would only agree to a spending bill capped at $1.5 trillion instead of the $3.5 trillion bill that president biden wants. and manchin came out with a statement yesterday blasting the build back better bill, saying it was designed to, quote, vengefully tax for the sake of wishful spending. and that's because most of the bill would be paid for just to be clear, it's not a huge increase to the deficit. with tax increases on big corporations and the very wealthy. today, manchin told reporters he, quote, cannot accept an economy or our society moving towards an entitlement mentality. while making clear where he sees himself in the party. >> i have voted pretty consistently my whole life. i don't fault any of them who believe they are much more progressive and much more liberal. god bless them, and all they need to do

joe manchin, we need permanent long-term jobs. this whole state is depending on him to do something right. >> that add from a coalition of groups against joe manchin, this is a reporting of the nation in a headline titled bernie sanders shows democrats how to deal with joe manchin. if democrats hope to enact a build back better agenda that expands medicare, provides paid family leave, lifts children out of poverty and saves the planet, they're going to have to speak bluntly about the democrats who are standing in the way of progress. most members of the senate democratic caucus are resonant about stating the obvious. but bernie sanders did so on sunday when he explained to west virginians that their senator was on the wrong side of joe biden's plan. sanders wrote an opinion piece for the charleston gazette mail. by monday morning, was the top trending piece in west virginia's capital city which by monday morning -- on the website, in it, he argued for the plan that is backed by president biden and the vast majority of congressiona

host: some of the protesters at joe manchin's houseboat. let's hear from jennifer on the republican line in virginia. >> thank you for taking my call. i have a couple of points i want to make. the first one is everybody coming after joe manchin for not voting for the 3.5. you also have the progressives that aren't willing to do anything unless it gets passed. it's typical washington games. the other point is the 3.5, there are so many entitlements in it. look at our social security? do we want the government controlling our childcare and college. it's 2021. they need to change. we need to subsidize childcare. women -- single women have been working and needing childcare since the 70's. what happened to the american dream of working and proving your life and doing these things? we've been doing this for a long time. i don't disagree with a hand up. host: michael is up next from arizona. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to say how disappointed i am with our representation. i've heard all this talk about joe manchin. he is s

manchin, senator manchin, to help us with what compassionate and rewarding society is about. does that mean addressing the reality that 600,000 people in the country are homeless? does it mean dealing with the grotesque level of wealth inequality that we have? does it mean dealing with one out of four americans can't fill the prescriptions their doctors write because the price of drugs in this country is sometimes ten times higher than it is in canada and other countries? so we need some specificity. he wants to say i believe in an an entitlement society, i would not look at it -- use that phraseology. do i believe in a nation based on economic, social, racial, and environmental justice, yeah, frankly, i admit it, you got it right here on your show, i believe all americans are entitled as human beings to health care. i believe people are entitled to quality education regardless of their income. i believe that people are entitled to affordable housing. i don't believe that two people are entitled to own more wealth than the bottom 40% of american society. and by the way, one o

we turn now to look at "joe manchin's dirty empire." reporter daniel examines how manchin profited from a series of coal companies. senator manchin continues to earn millions from the firms. he is now demanding democrats strip funding for the clean electricity performance program, a critical climate initiative to replace: gas-fired plants. investigative journalist daniel boguslaw joins us now from portland, oregon. layout for us, on the one hand you have senator manchin, the largest recipient of oil, gas, coal money in the senate. but what is not talked as much about is that he is making millions off of his own companies in west virginia, even if somof that money is in a blind trust. layout the empire. daniel: thank you for having the. -- thank you for having me. in the late 1980's, he started coal brokerage firm. he was a middlan between suppliers and buyers. from that time, he built out the empire, brokering coal between all of these plants. today, that is largely focused on the grant town powerplant, which at one point had became the

the second big difference is that manchin prided himself and his ego is very much built on a manchin brand that is independent where he's a democrat, but a democrat that tells honest truth to his own party. if he were to change and go to the republican party, that destroys the party. jim jeffords was the last of the yankee republicans and finally switched to democrat. i think what is going on with manchin is he basically has to send a message to democratic donors, don't think ability pulling your money for me for re-election. it's a power play. >> you decode it well. the fundamentals clearly matter because that speaks to whether there's a warm embrace and a political future in that kind of move, a move rarely made, but when it does happen, it tends to happen in 50/50 senates. che co-munn durie, good to see you. >>> the house barreling forward trying to get steve bannon possibly jailed. they are voting on holding him in contempt. we have a key investigator and leader of that committee, adam schiff is here. stay with us. rt small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start

joe manchin and kristen cinema need to realize that. joining me now for the more perspective, from the, senate's democratic senator chris murphy, of connecticut. senator, i want to have you on because you said something, you said something that i think, jibed with my read on today. you said something along the lines of, getting statements from sinema and manchin, were positive steps today. elaborate on that. >> i see today as a good day. this is a bit of an artificial deadline that was created by the speaker of the house. it was a forcing mechanism to try to get her caucus to come to the table on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. but also a forcing mechanism to get joe manchin and kristen cinema to be a bit more detail than what they support what they don't support, and in that sense, we have had a good day. right now as we speak there are discussions happening. there are more detail, more nuanced, than any point in the last few weeks, about what kind of agenda, all 50 senators can get behind. now, if it ends up being closer to one an

only because joe manchin is always joe manchin. like, he's -- he tells you what he wants to do. he's pretty straightforward. sinema's more of a question because she's been a little, you know, snarky with the media and we're really not sure why she's doing this except maybe to help her colleague, junior senator mark kelly, because like for example -- that's a perfect example. mark kelly is like, i'm only talking about state issues. that's it. i only want to talk about what's good for the state. he will got get into this conversation, so her carrying water for her re-election in 2024 is a lot better than him getting into the fight for 2022. >> juanita tolliver, i want to read a tweet from the joe scarborough. mitch mcconnell does what it takes to win. democrats should feel free to do the same. if they can't even make an exception for voting rights, they aren't tough enough to run the senate. joe scarborough is essentially making the point, if you're not going to act, right, then in a way, maybe you deserve to lose the majority. in the senate as a democrat. especially on something

manchin, senator manchin to help us out, what a compassionate and rewarding society is about. does that mean, addressing the reality, that 600,000 people in america, are homeless? does it mean dealing with the grotesque level of income wealth inequality, that we have? does it mean dealing with the fact that one out of four americans can't fill their prescriptions, that their doctors right, because the price of drugs in this country in some cases are ten times higher than other countries? we need some specificity. if he wants to say i believe in entitlement's society. i would not look at it like that. i do believe in a nation, based on economics, social, racial and environmental justice. yes. frankly i admit. you got it right here on the show. i believe that all americans are entitled, as human beings. two health care. i believe people are entitled to quality education, regardless of their income. i believe that people are entitled, to affordable housing. i don't believe that two people are entitled to own more wealth, than the bottom 40% of american society. by the way, one of

have a little mo pressure put on manchin from the rest of the democrats. the other factor her is that there are not that many progressives in the senate, a least.it is a very lonely place to be a prressive. that is the other half of this equation. chuck schumer has moved to the left and gotn some other people, but at the same time it the same people who were in power years earlier when politics w very different and are still very much stuck in that older playbook. amy: you say that schumer has very much moved because othe threat of aoc perhaps challenging him in the next election for senate. we will have to leave it there for now. we will link to your pieced how kyrsten sinema went from lefty activist to proud neoliberal democrat." stay with us. ♪ amy: "somebody that i used to know" by elliott smith. we look at how one of the leading covid-19 vaccine makers appears to have restricted -- appears to have restrict access to those very vaccines. the people's vaccine alliance since 14% of the 1.8 billion doses rich nations promised to donate have been deliver

joe manchin didn't want anything, and he came up to 1.5 trillion. he thinks that's a pretty big step. berns was at $7 trillion to get everything he wanted, and he came way down to $3.5 trillion. he thinks that's a pretty good step. it's not wrong. what you said about president biden is the key. manu's great reporting about his joke about it being homicide getting them in the same room, notwithstanding, this is what he campaigned on. >> right. >> joe biden said i am the guy who can get things done and we're not talking about across the aisle here. we're talking about inside his party. why not. take a piece of paper, sit down in the oval office with senator sanders and with senator manchin and get beyond the vagaries that manu is talking about and talk about what are the issues that you can live with, what are the issues that you can't live without and let's put it down, and the reason at this point the hard truth politically is that president biden would have full responsibility, and if he fails, that would be on him. the upside is if he wins and he'

manchin doesn't want to touch the filibuster. anderson was correct in moving biden specifically on to that issue after a question. here is what he said on point. >> i also think we're going to have to move to the point where we fundamentally alter the filibuster. >> are you saying once you get this current agenda passed on spending and social programs, that you would be open to fundamentally altering the filibuster or doing away with -- or doing away with it? >> well that remains to be seen. exactly what that means in terms of fundamentally altering it, whether or not we just end the filibuster straight up. voting rights particularly is consequential. >> when it comes to voting rights, just so i'm clear though you would entertain the notion of doing away with the filibuster on that one issue, is that correct? >> and maybe more. >> thinking about it in realtime. walking around. anderson is trying to get his attention. it's manchin. it's not we, we, we. there's no we, we, we. is there any indication, dana, that manchin got a messag

manchin is sending a signal here. he's saying i don't like the trump tax cuts, i do want the rich to pay more. i want to spend at least $1.5 trillion is how i hear him. people call it a top line, and i don't know what that is. what it is is a floor. the least that the democrats are going to get out of this is $1.5 trillion over and above $1.2 trillion for infrastructure. this is going to be most remarkable win for progressives they've ever had if they can just accept it. >> it's like, take the win, dana, right? they really are poo-pooing that even if the numbers are what everybody wants least, it will be the most spending since the new deal, and almost all of it is in categories that the american people have said from everywhere and every level that they want. >> no question about it. so many of the democrats who were serving, especially in the house right now -- first of all, a good number of them have not done this kind of thing before. the freshman, and even those who are in their second terms, were not familiar wi

joe manchin, democrats are mad at joe manchin, they ought to be grateful for him. st. joe's the one man standing between you and the majority leader mitch doing everything in this power to thank the biden agenda. please share your thinking with the audience to him. >> i know that that might not be a popular one, not one that many will agree to anyway. , joe biden got 28% of the vote in joe mentioned state. 20%. against donald trump after that catastrophe that we saw for the last four years. which joe manchin has on the table right now is passing an infrastructure bill that is going to lift and fix every right party. and do all kinds of things for climate, for our roads, and bridges, and pence transportation. another 1.5 trillion is doubled the size of the obama stimulus by the way. that is going to go to working families, and families with kids that need extra assistance. he is going to pay for. that by getting rid of the carried interest tax loophole, and raising the top tax bracket. the built should be running around the country, blowing their horns and having a cele

manchin is not. >> all right. everybody stand by because up next we are going to be looking at the show of force that we are saying by progressives securing a spot in the driver's seat and eagerly taking the wheel. you see him there. next we'll talk to one of the members of the progressive connection who says what need to be done to seal the deal. he'll tell us more after the break. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas or abdominal discomfort? taking align every day can help. align contains a quality probiotic developed by gastroenterologists. it adds more good bacteria to your gut to naturally help soothe your occasional bloating, gas and abdominal discomfort. support your digestive health with align, the #1 doctor recommended probiotic. try align today. and try new align fast acting biotic gummies. helps soothe occasional digestive upsets in as little as 7 days. at aetna, we take a total, connected approach to your health and wellness to help you age actively. with med

is manchin praming like that. >> do you know. we had these silo conversations, sort of like manchin isly, the progressives, the white house -- >> i don't know. >> why doirchlt. you know, i think what will happen here is we'll a have a framework, then the progressives should get on board. this tonight is going to move us forward. what manchin has done is constructive in saying that i voted against the trump tax cuts. at the very least we can have about 2 tr$2 trillion, and they on the record opposing these tax cuts. >> ro khaana, this is helpful, because you'll explain it in such a way that people don't follow thely voting process. maybe it's a good thing if it allows you to get even more done. good luck going forward doing the business of the people. >> thank you for giving me the opportunity. >> thank you for taking it. >>> stay with us. why would nancy pelosi -- strategists, why would she put something on that's not going to win? would that send some kind of message i've never seen before, but that will happen on our wa watch.

is senator manchin wrong? >> look, i won't say that senator manchin is wrong but i will say that this administration, we know what we need to do, we need to deliver for the american people. 17 nobel laureate economists said if we passed both of these plans we would reduce inflation, what we have to do is make sure senator manchin understands how this affects the future in terms of making sure we invest in american families so they can determine their own destiny. we think we have unity of purpose with senator manchin. that's what the president does best and that is to talk to senator manchin and make sure that he understands the entire vision, why we need to do it and at what amount. at the end of the day, chris, i think what's important for people to understand is that this piece of legislation costs zero. we're going to pay for it all by raising taxes on the very wealthy and big corporations. chris: i've got to stop you there. it doesn't of cost zero, whether it's three and-a-half trillion or one and-a-half

so why does manchin want to cut the specific program? to discuss, let's bring in bill crystal and laura lopez. great to see you here on set. manchin has acknowledged the impacts of climate change. he co-wrote an op-ed in 2019 in "the washington post" about just that. at the same time we know he's been a big backer of the coal industry in west virginia. what do you make of him wanting to cut this climate program, that these experts say will help his state? >> publicly right now what he's saying is that his view is that the company is already doing this. in order for the biden administration to meet that 50% or close to cut 50% carbon emissions, all climate experts as they told you think that these steps need to be taken or else the country isn't going to reach that goal that biden has set. manchin has long been a big proponent of fossil fuel and keeping fossil fuel in the mix. that's at the heart here. manchin has long talked about all of the above energy, long wanted to keep fossil fuel companies running and think that them along with na

manchin has left the capitol. now, maybe a lot of other key figures are going to be going to the house vote to negotiate with him. i'm still a little nervous that we haven't heard anything from sinema who's a key player. but also keep in mind that when manchin says 1.5 is my bottom line or top line, however you want to frame it, a while back he said we should have $4 trillion in infrastructure spending. then he said i'm comfortable with $2 trillion. when he says these things it shouldn't be taken too seriously and we know there are a lot of ways to reach an agreement, including shortening the number of years in which you have these programs in place. so the bottom line is it's not a terribly significant figure. i'm still nervous at the tax numbers and the substance of the tax figures are going to be ones where manchin and sinema will take different points of view. and that's what concerns me more about reaching another stalemate here. >> yeah, such a good point because the old saying which is true, nothing is agre

manchin is coming from a state that trump won. is that really what's going on here, is the people they represent are far more conservative and they wouldn't survive this? >> it's that, but i can say in the case of senator manchin, it's also that it's his personal philosophy. you heard him out talking to reporters earlier today, and he was saying, look, if prog progressives want more progressive agenda items and policies, then they need to elect more progressives. he is being very open about it. yes, it is the fact that he represents ruby red west virginia, and it is an anomaly in some ways that he represents that state, and it's because he is so well known. but it is also because he believes it. what's really interesting, anderson, is that if you look at the state of west virginia, there are so many of his constituents who could benefit from a lot of these programs -- >> yeah, that's what's so interesting. >> -- that the biden white house wants to put forward. but they also fundamentally, idealogically don't believe, a lot of them

he's focused on manchin and sinema of arizona. manchin is speaking right now as we're talking. he's giving an address. i just think that there's a couple deadlines here we have to watch. not only the president's trip, there's the federal surface transportation deadline of october 31st that runs out. if they need to extend that, they have to get some agreement from senate republicans. that's not going to be easy to do. and the big one, the really big one is november 2nd. you opened your piece talking about this, they're worried about virginia. if terry mcauliffe loses, they're worried about moderates will run for the hills if there's not an agreement in place and they'll be worried about a repeat of 2009 and 2010 and democrats getting wiped out in the midterms. >> joe manchin is speaking, he's in an interview with david rubin style, co-founder of carlyle. the president of one of the biggest private equity firms. talk about this billionaires tax. this is kind of nonsense. they are being taxed on this income. people this wealthy pay themselves a tiny amount. this is not a wealth t

and manchin. are you getting word from your allies that progress is being made in the meetings or at least the key people are just staring at each other right now. >> john, it's great to be with you again. look, this is progress. the fact that manchin and sinema are finally talking about their top lines and what they can and cannot live with is a result of a progressive strategy to enact the overwhelming majority of this president's broadly popular economic provisions. this is a strategy that was articulated initially by the president himself, the majority leader in the senate and, of course, the speaker of the house nancy pelosi until a few renegade democrats tried to derail that. i'm very optimistic we'll pass both. the build back better act containing the vast majority of what the president proposed earlier this spring. >> one of the key points you made you disagreed with joe manchin on means testing. he says if you make 150,000, 200,000, 300,000 a year you should either not get or get a smalle

not even in line with past statements from joe manchin. he's been very public and not waited for the house to act without speaking publicly where he stands on overall price tag, the revenue sources, the taxes, or even what's included in the bill. so when he says all in the hands of the house right now, i'm going to take this as a "no comment" from joe manchin at this moment. am i wrong? >> reporter: i think that's correct, kate. it's surprising because he is the one who's been in the center of all these talks. he is the one who knows where this framework -- what it would look like today. the bhishls were meeting with him and kyrsten sinema for hours yesterday going through all these different proposals. he came out of that meeting yesterday, i asked him about what happened, and he said it's up to the caucus to decide, indicating that he has essentially -- what they had proposed as far as that he'd be willing to go. he know what is's in here. he didn't need extra time to evaluate this proposal. he knew that paid leave was going to be droppe

senator manchin said he had a plan, the problem according to senator manchin was not that just republicans were obstructing this for the sake of obstructionism, not that they were wholesale against any projection for voting rights, he said it was simply, that this for the people act was the wrong bill. the democrats who had written it, had written it wrong. was too broad, too partisan, somehow. it was written in such a way that it was in appealing to republicans. but that was fixable. he insisted that all the other democrats that pushes the wrong way, they had written a bill wrong, but if you wrote the bill right, republicans would support it. why wouldn't they? he insisted his colleagues and to the public and to the press that the other democrats had just done this wrong way, but he joe manchin knew that republicans supported voting rights and therefore there was a voting rights bill that could get republican support if it was written correctly. and then to his credit, sincerely to his legitimate credit, senator manchin put his money where his mouth was. he said you know what, i actually

they feel like they're giving things away to manchin and sinema and they're not convinced that manchin or sinema ever going to do a deal. that's what they are afraid of here. i think pelosi and you know she's walking such a fine line here and chuck schumer. chuck schumer is in the middle of it, too. we have to mention it, too. chuck schumer who was fascinating, chuck schumer and joe manchin signed a letter on the reconciliation bill. i have never seen or heard anything like that. a senator having to sign a letter with their own majority leader? we were talking about this yesterday. just very interesting to us. progressives are afraid of, they give and give, they see a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. they don't love it and they don't get what they want in the reconciliation package and they lose their majority next year so this is the moment. you got to think of 2022, they're going to negotiate with the one eye on that. that's what we have to think about when we think of where progressives are at >> john, you are right about the frustration of progressives. sinema was saying we don't k

and also senator manchin held another bun in one meeting with senator manchin. later a chip per thought they were leaving and went to get sued o'fill. >> we're talking. >> you're going to havely a revolution by the end of the week? >> do you care to make. you sort of sefrd something there as they goett got out of their cars. . ly the quote, never give up, bernie. what does that mean? cnn reported that in addition to senator man thin meeting with senator jay a paul. senator faen call with president biden today? does this mean that things are changing? what does it mean that the key progressives in this despite we're meeting runly tlou the indicate progress? i have just the porn to ask. joining usually. congressass cloou. ly again, i'm watching from the cheap seats as is everybody in this country who is a stakeholder in this fight, who you knows how transformative this could be who justlily do the drama. what can you tell us about that meeting with senator manchin and how we should understand it in terms of whether this thing is going to get done? >> i have said f

the range defined by joe manchin as his limit. now, this statement does seem to represent a shift in senator sinema's position, which had been reported as being opposed to any tax increases in the biden bill. and earlier tonight, president biden described senator sinema's position this way. >> she's smart as the devil, number one. number two, she's very supportive of the environmental agenda in my legislation, very supportive. she's supportive of almost all the things i mentioned relating to everything from family care to all those issues. where she's not supportive is she says she will not raise a single penny in taxes on the corporate side and/or on wealthy people, period, and so that's where it sort of breaks down. >> senator sinema's public silence about what she is trying to achieve in the legislation has led to what the "new york times" today called a, quote, crescendo of anger and pressure that ms. sinema is facing from erstwhile allies who say they are perplexed by her recent tactics. we'll be joined by one of those who ad

so the question then becomes what are you actually willing to cut, senator manchin? tell us. the expanded child tax credits that have been proven to help kids get out of poverty, or maybe you want to cut the investment in climate change. and before slashing that line item you might want to remember this the noaa found extreme weather has cost u.s. taxpayers in this country just $100 billion last year alone. in a letter outlining his position this week senator manchin wrote, quote, overall the amount we spend now must be balanced with what we need and can afford, not designed to re-engineer the social economic fabric of this nation or vengefully tax for the sake of wishful spending. let's make a couple of points here crystal clear. one, we're talking $350 billion a year. that's significantly less than the $750 billion that go into the military budget. manchin has repeatedly voted in favor of that military spending. two, it's not wishful spending. these are the platforms that president biden and the democrats were elected on. and three, manchin himself said that the 2017 tax cu

manchin was said to be angry. maybe he was. i have to tell you as a political strategist, nothing would help manchin more than for bernie to be attacking him in whe west virginia. democrats lost every county in west virginia in the presidential election. he you said i worked for president clinton. we had gun control, gay rights, the brady bill. tough things. this is an easy vote. my fellow moderates need to understand, you can sell this. the biden build back better agenda is popular. 67% want universal pre-k. 88% want lowering the cost of prescription drugs. 81% want vision and dental care for seniors. this is popular. why are we having a hard time agreeing to something that is so overwhelmingly popular? >> well, in west virginia, of course, paul, there are issues with some of the energy and climate provisions in the bill, right? what does manchin need to budge on there? what can he really sell to west vir virginians? >> nobody knows that better than joe manchin. not another democrat can win that state, in my opinion. i hate se

the republicans killed senator manchin's voting rights compromise yesterday. what happens -- now what? >> we have to continue to push, you know, for a while we've heard from some democratic senators saying it might take a couple of failed attempts to get this done before they can get some of the democrats who are against filibuster reform to come onboard. and so i'm hoping they're finally realizing the republicans on the senate side don't really care about our democracy. they're willing to do anything to make sure people don't actually have equal access to the voting booth. and it is going to be up to democrats to come together to save this democracy and make sure it is available for a future generation. >> i want to talk about the president's agenda now because biden is saying there will be a deal, and it's, you know, not the most difficult deal he has ever worked on. so what are democrats waiting for on this spending package? what is the hold-up? >> well, we always say it's not done until everyone agrees on a deal. i think what the hold-up right now is for a

>> joe manchin? i don't know. i don't know. i may dress up as the big reconciliation bill like i'm just a bill and i'll walk through the neighborhood singing "schoolhouse rock!." >> such a bad question. >> thank you, guys, so much for watching. we greatly appreciate it. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. ♪♪ >>> hi, there. i'm stephanie ruhle live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it's friday, october 29th, and there's so much news happening right now, and we've got the facts you need to know, so let's get smarter. as we speak, president biden in italy, vatican city, to be exact, where he met with the pope early this morning. he's also meeting with italy's president and prime minister. all of this is happening while more than 4,000 miles away here in the u.s., the president's agenda is hanging on by a thread. a house vote that was supposed to take place last night was delayed. that's the third time that has happened. progressive house members say they're still not satisfied that the two key senators,

joe manchin's intervention. it reads in part, quote, democrats may be angry, but as the days go by, they may recognize mr. manchin is doing them a favor. with biden advocating for the left, the virginian is providing a reality check on progressive excess. passing the reconciliation bill could cost democrats congress next year. what do you think? >> well, look, i think that democrats are trying to pass a bill that the voters did not deliver them a mandate to pass. and you look at the majorities that voters gave the democratic party, they have a five-seat majority in the house which is why speaker pelosi who is really a masterful legislative technician is having a devil of a time bringing her caucus together. the centrists and the liberals can brick everything to a halt. that's how slim her majority is. and in the u.s. senate, democrats don't really have a majority. they have the tie breaker. that gives them control of the floor, but as we've seen just one senator defects, and they can't do what they want. and whe