Jayapal on the Budget: It’s Not About the Price

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BUCK: There are real concerns about what’s going to be from the progressive wing of the Democrat Party — which is more a vanguard than a wing in many ways. They direct it. Here’s Representative Jayapal, for example, who’s talking about the infrastructure bill that they’ve had this huge back and forth: 3.5 trillion, 1.5 trillion? Where is it gonna go? They’ve got a month to figure it out, and she’s saying that this is not about the price somehow.

JAYAPAL: Well, what we’ve said from the beginning is it’s never been about the price tag. It’s about what (snickers) we want to deliver. The price tag comes out of that. So, uh, we understand that we… Uh, you know, the 3.5 we thought was negotiated already is clearly not negotiated. We understand we have to get 50 senators on board.

And we have to keep everyone in the House on board. And so we are now going back to make sure, “What is the way that we can get all of the critical programs that we have identified?” Those things I talked to you about: Child care paid leave. How do we get all of those things in?

BUCK: Clay, it is about the price. They keep saying this. It’s clearly about the price, because if it’s not about the price, well, then just put free health care for everybody! Free college, free housing, free food. Just go all in if it’s not about the price. Of course it’s about the price.

CLAY: Just eliminate all of the foundational elements of economics in a capitalistic system, and just have a $20 trillion bill, right? It’s 100% about the price. You know it’s about the price because Democrats have even tried to argue that the price is zero, right? They’ve tried to argue that there is no cost associated with this plan.

BUCK: Or it’s not high enough! How could it…? You know what I mean? If it’s not about the price, then why isn’t 1.5 trillion enough? What they say makes no sense.

CLAY: And inflation. We should keep hammering this because I know everybody who was listening to us on a day-to-day basis is seeing it every time they drive past a gas station. By the way, gas prices hit a seven-year high today, highest since 2014. That is what the Joe Biden economic system has done.

That is what sending all this money flowing into the system. Buck, we were talking off air about all of the cargo issues and whether or not people are gonna be able to get things shipped in, whether it’s toys, whether it’s all these things coming out of foreign countries into our country. You can’t even get it into the country right now.

BUCK: This is a huge problem, folks. Our supply chains rely on these massive cargo ships being able to put their containers in port, have those goods distributed, and so the downstream effects of this will be felt by businesses, by corporations — large and small — across the country if it continues. They are waiting weeks right now, they’re saying, to dock, these cargo ships, particularly off of Southern California. And it’s because there are covid restrictions and because they have a labor crunch at the docks.

CLAY: Yeah, don’t have enough people.

BUCK: They don’t have enough people. People are getting paychecks, sent checks to stay at home — and also, with all the covid regulations that are in place. They’re not going back to work the same way. And this has negative effects on the economy, which has an impact on all of us.

CLAY: No doubt. And I think a lot of moms and dads out there, Buck, as it gets closer to Christmas and you’re buying your presents, I think toys are not gonna be on the shelves, many of them. This is gonna be a real issue going forward. And it’s gonna hit people in their pocketbooks and also in their lives.