 So, even in the rare instance where I agree with Joe Biden on the policy substance, he still manages to be a disappointment. Because if he takes a position that I agree with, then the next question is, will he be willing to fight for said policy? And the answer is, hmm, hopefully, but usually no. And we've seen this time and again with Joe Biden. I mean, back in 2009, during healthcare reform negotiations, they publicly supported a public option, but then didn't even put it on the table. I mean, to walk away from a policy that wasn't even sufficient to begin with, I mean, of course, you're going to lose if you play that game because you're not playing politics in a savvy way. And we're seeing this again with the minimum wage. So he wants to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Now in 2021, that's not necessarily sufficient, but still, if he does this, that will raise the wages of millions of American workers and I'll take what I can get right now. The problem, however, is if this isn't done using budget reconciliation, since Democrats have a razor thin majority in the Senate, it's not going to happen. So you have to make sure that you put this as part of the package deal. So what he's trying to do or what he was trying to do is include this in the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. However, you have some individuals in the Democratic Party, such as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema saying, I don't want to support this if it includes a $15 an hour minimum wage. Now, rather than fighting people in your own party using your bully pulpit to pressure them, he's choosing to back down. He's already signaling to people behind closed doors that this is probably going to be a defeat for him. So as Politico reports, when Joe Biden met with a group of mayors and governors last week, he bluntly told them to get ready for a legislative defeat. His proposed minimum wage hike was unlikely to happen, he said, at least in the near term. I really want this in there, but it just doesn't look like we can do it because of reconciliation. Biden told the group, according to a person in the room, I'm not going to give up. But right now, we have to prepare for this, not making it. The comments which were confirmed by two other people familiar with the conversation were the furthest Biden has gone in conceding the coming axing of the $15 an hour minimum wage provision from his first major legislative package. And they suggest that the president is more inclined to not manage the fallout of it not being included than to pursue long shot political capital consuming efforts to fight for its insertion. Sitting in the Oval Office with Republican and Democratic elected officials last Friday to advocate for his $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, he didn't hide his skepticism. Doesn't look like we can do it, he said of the minimum wage hike. For weeks now, the White House has been trying to manage expectations on the feasibility of advancing a $15 an hour minimum wage provision through a broader rescue package. Biden first suggested it might not make it into the final COVID relief bill in an interview with CBS prior to the Super Bowl, noting his belief that the Senate parliamentarian would determine if it did not jibe with budgetary rules that allow a bill to pass with just 51 votes in the Senate. His comments drew pushback from fellow Democrats who have argued that raising the minimum wage isn't just necessary for an economically battered country, but is sound politics as well. They have urged the White House to find avenues for making it reconciliation compliant to push party members skeptical of a major minimum wage hike to get on board and to consider the procedural nuclear option of having the party with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie breaking vote overrule the parliamentarian. So of course, this is a really bad time. And look, to put it bluntly, if it's not in the COVID relief package, if it's not attached to something else, it's not going to pass. Because if you are going to put it in this predicament where it needs 60 votes to pass, you're not going to get it. You could barely get 51 votes for it to pass. So if you don't pass it with something else as part of a broader package, then it's not going to pass. Simple as that. And I get that, you know, he is getting cold feet because the longer that he keeps it in, well, the longer he's holding up COVID relief. But this is kind of his own doing. You could have passed a standalone survival check of $2,000, which you promised if people in Georgia voted for Rafael Warnock and John Asif. You didn't do that. So you're including that with a COVID relief package, which is okay, I guess. But now it's taking a long time to pass and you could have just gotten survival checks and then you pass the broader economic relief package and then you put the minimum wage provision in that. So that way it doesn't seem like you're dragging your feet with the survival checks and you actually push the minimum wage increase through. But if you don't get this through using reconciliation, it's not going to happen. So either you make it happen or you crack some skulls. You're the president of the United States. You are the most powerful government official in the country. Why is it that you of all people, Joe Biden, are walking on eggshells for someone like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema? Make them, make them support your agenda. I just, I don't get why this is so hard. Joe Biden lacks the spy needed to get anything done, which is why, you know, I can't not anticipate a bloodbath in 2022 because if you don't at least deliver a little bit of material benefits to the American people, you're going to get wiped the fuck out because the coalition that you put together that got you in the White House will not return if they don't feel as if there's a benefit to you being in power. So this is just it's bad politics and another part of the issue not to like cleanse Joe Biden's hands of all of this. But the media also isn't helping the media rather than actually like trying to educate the masses and inform people about the necessity of giving people a wage increase during the pandemic. The way that they're framing this entire debate is as if, you know, if Joe Biden is successful at passing the minimum wage using reconciliation, is that actually a bad thing? Like look at the way that Casey Hunt of MSNBC framed this question to Congressman Ro Khanna. Congressman Khan, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for starting your day off so early with us. Let's start there with what we just heard from now President Biden about this package. He, of course, ran on the idea of unity, trying to get bipartisan support. They're now essentially saying that's not necessarily what unity means and that this is very popular broadly with the country. What do you think you're actually going to be able to get done in this bill? Do you think the minimum wage provision is going to stay in it? And do you think that handling it this way with reconciliation right out of the gate potentially is going to make it harder to work with Republicans on other issues in the future? Casey, I'm pleased that President Biden has been so strong on delivering for relief for working class and middle class Americans, on delivering, on tackling the pandemic. That is what he campaigned on. He said he was going to do this with the recovery. He said we were going to get monthly checks. He said we were going to tackle child poverty. He said that we were going to give Americans a raise. And so I appreciate his approach. I do think reconciliation is the right way to do it. The house minimum is going to pass the $15 minimum wage. And I hope that it will pass in the Senate as well. This was explicitly what President Biden ran on. I mean, this is why we are in the predicament that we are in. The concern shouldn't be whether or not using budget reconciliation to raise the minimum wage will be divisive and turn Republicans off to wanting to work with Biden's administration. The concern should be why is it that in the richest country in the world, we have to use budget reconciliation to assure that the minimum wage is going to be increased? Like why is it this difficult? Why are people in the United States government who make almost $200,000 a year refusing to give the peasants a raise of just a couple of dollars? Like this is why the situation in the country is so fucked up. We have a Democratic Party who is unwilling to fight and they cave immediately when they start to fight. And second of all, we have a media that doesn't actually care about educating the masses. They care more about like the partisan angle of it. Not about, hey, isn't it kind of fucked up? That Democrats have to use budget reconciliation to pass this crucial policy. But well, maybe that's a little bit mean, and maybe they should try to bring more Republicans in. Like it's so frustrating to see this. Look, I'll put it very bluntly. Pass this or you're going to lose your reelection campaign and Democrats will lose in twenty twenty two. The minimum wage increase is a key promise. And if Democrats do not deliver here, you are going to assure your defeat in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four. So get it together. Find a spine and fucking fight. Don't give up. Fight, Joe Biden.