On Monday evening, MSNBC’s Joy Reid devoted a significant amount of time on her show The ReidOut to bash Republicans for their reluctance to increase both the national debt and the federal minimum wage.
She also spun Democrats as too wimpy in committing to ending the filibuster. Reid invited one of the most progressive members of the House of Representatives, Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), on to discuss potential “workarounds” that the Democratic Party could utilize in order to pass their far-left agenda. During their discussion, Reid slammed Republicans as being apathetic toward Americans' needs.
According to Reid, the elimination or alteration of the filibuster would be the “easiest way” to pass any legislation the Democrats want. The conservative-hating host asked Jayapal if she thought Democrats were “making a mistake” by asserting that they would not get rid of the filibuster.
Taking the bait practically on cue, Jayapal responded that she supports “reform[ing]” the filibuster:
“Well, I've already said that I think that the parliamentarian should be overruled. That is not unprecedented, as you know. Hubert Humphrey did it in 1967 and 1969. Roosevelt did it in 1975. These are certainly unprecedented times where we could thank the parliamentarian for her opinion. It is an advisory opinion. And then we could still include it in the minimum wage bill. I've spoken to the Speaker about this. I've spoken to the White House about it. It's why the House left it in our bill even after the parliamentarian's ruling because we believe that it has to be included. And, look, Joy, Democrats are going to have to have a choice here. Are we going to give Mitch McConnell veto power over all the things that we have promised to voters across the country and, you know, that are really popular? It's not just this. It's the voting rights act. It's immigration reform. It is so many—it's getting money out of politics with HR.1. There are so many things that we have promised. Voters gave us the House, the Senate, and the White House, and we're either going to have to include things in reconciliation, or we're going to have to reform the filibuster. Frankly we're probably going to have to do both—”
Reid, nodded approvingly for the duration of Jayapal’s historically inaccurate and extremely progressive response (Gerald Ford was the President in 1975). Reid even interjected “Yeah,” adding it's “because there's some things that can't be included in reconciliation.”
Instead of extolling attempts at creating bipartisan legislation, Reid analogized Democratic Senate leaders as the victim in “an abusive relationship”:
“Can you explain to just our viewers who are on thepProgressive side and young viewers–I get asked this even by my own kids. Why don't Democrats do that? Why do Republicans–Democrats always seem to–it's almost sort of like they're sort of in an abusive relationship where they think if they just cook a better meal, they won't get licks. Can you explain why Democrats refuse to do the things that Republicans would do if they were in y'all's position?”
Instead of correcting Reid and reiterating the importance of reaching across the political aisle to pass legislation that is beneficial for all Americans, Jayapal derided Republicans as insurrectionists and contended that the notion of bipartisanship is antiquated.
Neither Reid nor Jayapal informed viewers of the deleterious implications that may result from hiking up the federal minimum wage. According to CNBC’s estimates, increasing the federal minimum wage by over fifty percent would cost 1.4 million jobs. Does that sound like COVID-19 relief to you?
Of course, offering no pushback whatsoever, Reid agreed and thanked Jayapal for her comments.
Joy Reid’s unrelenting and unapologetic advocacy for interminable Democratic control of the United States Senate was brought to you, in part, by Fidelity. You can contact this advertiser, and others, via the Conservatives Fight Back page, conveniently linked here.
Please click "Expand" to read the full March 1 transcript:
The ReidOut
03/01/2021
7:00 PM EasternJOY REID: Good evening, everyone. We begin The ReidOut tonight with a question of survival, mainly the urgent survival checks and relief that millions of Americans are desperately waiting on as the pandemic continues to sink its teeth into our economy. And that President Biden and the House Democrats have a plan for in the form of a $1.9 trillion COVID-relief bill that finally passed the House this weekend. The bill includes a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks to bring the total federal relief to the $2,000 they promised and hundreds of billions of dollars for schools, vaccine distribution, and testing, relief for the people who have fallen behind on their rent and for struggling small businesses as well as money for food relief and child care. For Americans like these who are bearing the brunt of the crisis.
[CUTS TO CLIP OF AMERICANS EXPLAINING HOW COVID-19 HAS AFFECTED THEM]
REID: The Senate is expected to pass its own version of the bill with one important and not so great change. It won't include an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. More on that in a minute. Now, the faces that you just saw, the struggling American families seem to be missing from one party, the Republicans' calculations, as we all face this once-in-a-century global pandemic. Instead, they're showing an indifference to policy or even to democracy, focusing instead on further radicalizing their base over the weekend at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference that's devolved from kooky, fascist, comic con to something that looked a lot more like Jonestown.
[…]
REID: Joining me now is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And Congresswoman, let's get right to the issue at hand. Republicans didn't talk about it this weekend, not surprisingly, but this is what most Americans are talking about, the question of the minimum wage and why that is probably not going to make it through the senate in terms of their version of the bill. I want you to listen to South Dakota Senator John Thune. This was his take on the minimum wage over the weekend.
[CUTS TO CLIP OF SENATOR JOHN THUNE SPEAKING]
JOHN THUNE [R-SOUTH DAKOTA]: The minimum wage is something that is particularly troubling and harmful at a time when you're trying to get people back to work. I worked for less than the minimum wage. I worked for the minimum wage. I started busing tables at a dollar an hour. I went up to two and a quarter when they moved me up in the place. And I finally made it to cook, which was big time, that was 6 bucks an hour. What you're essentially telling those businesses in South Dakota that I just mentioned, that you're going to increase the amount of money that they have to pay their workers by over 50%, 50% increase.
REID: You got to love the Tim Scott standing there to provide the patina of diversity over that round of words, that basketful of words. What do you make of John Thune's argument, because his $6 an hour would be $20 an hour now, if you account for inflation, but your thoughts?
PRAMILA JAYAPAL [D-WASHINGTON]: Well, he's just so out of touch with where regular people are and struggling at the bottom end of the wage scale. And, you know, there's 27 million people, Joy, that would be lifted up in terms of their wages. 1.3 million that would be lifted out of poverty. 30% of black workers would get a raise. 26% of Latinx workers would get a raise. So, this is an issue that the Senator is fondly remembering some time when it was just young people in their first job working a minimum wage. That is not the case today. Adults with families stay in minimum wage jobs for years at a time. And so, it is just a myth that, number one, it's not going to lift a lot of people up out of poverty, that it's not deeply essential after 12 years of not raising the wage. And, number two, Joy, this is a policy that is popular with Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Just—let's not forget that Florida went for Donald Trump in the last election and voted a $15 minimum wage through with a supermajority of voters.
REID: You know, you make a really good point because every time minimum wage goes on the ballot, almost every time, it passes. And it's actually a really popular bill across political parties. Um, I wonder if you think that because this is such a popular policy across the voters, you know, whether they're right, left, or center, are Democrats in your view making a mistake by not either overruling the parliamentarian, which the Vice President of the United States could do, or coming up with some sort of workaround. I know Bernie Sanders has a workaround where they would use a tax penalty for people who don't go to $15 an hour. Do you think the Democrats are making a mistake by already saying they won't mess with the filibuster, which would be the easiest way to pass what is a very popular policy?
JAYAPAL: Well, I've already said that I think that the parliamentarian should be overruled. That is not unprecedented, as you know. Hubert Humphrey did it in 1967 and 1969. Roosevelt did it in 1975. These are certainly unprecedented times where we could thank the parliamentarian for her opinion. It is an advisory opinion. And then we could still include it in the minimum wage bill. I've spoken to the Speaker about this. I've spoken to the White House about it. It's why the House left it in our bill even after the parliamentarian's ruling because we believe that it has to be included. And, look, Joy, Democrats are going to have to have a choice here. Are we going to give Mitch McConnell veto power over all the things that we have promised to voters across the country and, you know, that are really popular? It's not just this. It's the voting rights act. It's immigration reform. It is so many—it's getting money out of politics with HR.1. There are so many things that we have promised. Voters gave us the House, the Senate, and the White House, and we're either going to have to include things in reconciliation, or we're going to have to reform the filibuster. Frankly we're probably going to have to do both—
REID: Yeah.
JAYAPAL: Because there's some things that can't be included in reconciliation.
REID: Can you explain to just our viewers who are on the Progressive side and young viewers–I get asked this even by my own kids. Why don't Democrats do that? Why do Republicans–Democrats always seem to–it's almost sort of like they're sort of in an abusive relationship where they think if they just cook a better meal, they won't get licks. Can you explain why Democrats refuse to do the things that Republicans would do if they were in y'all's position?
JAYAPAL: Well, I can just say that I think there is some, you know, sort of past notion of a Senate where you can have good policy discussions and good people on both sides would come together. But let's not forget that the vast majority of these senators refused to vote to convict Donald Trump. The vast majority of them did not say anything in the months leading up to January 6th. The vast majority have not been willing to do things that are incredibly popular in their own districts. And so, I don't think that there's suddenly going to be some, you know, kumbaya moment where they're going to drink different coffee and suddenly decide they want to get on the same page about delivering for working people. And that's what I think is so essential because, Joy, we've got to deliver. We can't go back to voters in two years and say, I'm sorry, you know, a parliamentarian, who is doing her job but she's unelected, not like the rest of us who are elected to these positions, deliver promises to voters – we can't go back to voters and say, I'm sorry we couldn’t do it because the parliamentarian ruled we couldn't do it. That's not going to fly for 27 million people who are struggling to put food on the table and earn a decent wage.
REID: I think that is absolutely true. You maybe have a – I mean, Democrats need to have a confab about that. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, I think most people think you’re absolutely right, cheers. Thank you very much for being here. Appreciate you.
[…]
