STIMULUS UPDATE: VP Harris Picks Fight With Own Party (Sekulow Recap)

Vice President Kamala Harris just picked a fight with her own party.

Today on Sekulow, we discussed Vice President Harris’ curious move, picking a fight with a Democrat Senator. The fight is over COVID-19 relief.

Vice President Kamala Harris said the following over the weekend in West Virginia:

We ran as Democrats, but we are Americans, and we will lead as Americans. The reason why I’m here in West Virginia talking to you is because everybody matters, whether you voted for us or not.

When asked about it, Senator Joe Manchin, who appeared to be targeted by Vice President Harris responded:

I saw, I couldn’t believe it. No one called me. We’re going to try to find a bipartisan pathway forward, I think we need to, but we need to work together. That’s not a way of working together, what was done.

This is noteworthy because it is not a Republican and a Democrat dueling over COVID-19 relief. This is Vice President Harris and another Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The Vice President went to West Virginia to go after a colleague over an issue that should have bipartisan support.

You have to ask yourself, what are the politics of this one when the American people need the help? What is going on here?

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett made the following point about the politics of this situation when he said:

Well, it’s terrible politics. I would say its political incompetence if you ask me. Look, Senator Joe Manchin is someone who, from the very beginning, has said that he wants a COVID-19 package. Yet, he’s talking reasonably about it. He wants the dollars that were already passed in COVID-19 stimulus to actually reach the people who need it, so when they pass another package, it’s the people that get the help that’s needed.

By pushing away one of the fifty votes that they need in the United States Senate, it’s sending a message that they are going to have to have Republican votes. I will tell you, in a vacuum, Republican Senators are willing to pass a COVID-19 stimulus package.

The only way to look at this is they don’t want Republican votes. They’re using a strategy that doesn’t plan to get Republican votes, and yet they’re chasing away one of the Democrat votes that they need. The only thing I can call that, political incompetence.

This is at the very least, extremely strange. As always, we’ll keep you updated on the state of the COVID-19 relief negotiations. And as we said, our legal and policy teams are hard at work to ensure that Congress passes needed COVID relief that doesn’t waste money where it is not needed but is given to the American people who need it.

The full broadcast is complete with much more analysis and discussion by our team of Vice President Kamala Harris’ feud with Senator Manchin and the ongoing negotiations over a COVID-19 stimulus package.

Watch the full broadcast below.