Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound On. Basically, we're out of money. That's why today in order to sustain Ukraine as a as it continues to fight, and I'm sending Congress a supplemental budget request. Bloomberg Sound On Politics, Policy and perspective from DC's top name. We all expected this quarder would be a bit slower. They have tried to make the case that this is at plutin price hype that has fallen flat Inslation has gone off every month.
Pickture biking im President Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Surprise Surprise, the economy contracts in the first quarter, and President Biden asks Congress for tens of billions to fund Ukraine. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics. As we join you again from Bloomberg World Headquarters in New York. Will zero in on today's GDP report and consider the political imp occasions as Congress makes its plans for the rest of the year with Ed Mills, Washington
policy analyst at Raymond James. Later, our conversation with barat Rama Murdy, Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council. Also g d P of course on the agenda and a major effort to help small business at the White House today that we'll be talking about. Senator Joe Manchin wants to make a deal on energy and climate. Are we really doing this again? We'll talk about it with our panel Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeanie Chanzano and Rick Davis.
Kind of surreal to see the word contraction on the Bloomberg screen this morning watching surveillance. What GDP drops unexpectedly one point four percent, coming in below all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey. But it had much to do with a trade imbalance than anything. Certainly was not due to consumers pulling back. So it's kind of a counterintuitive story here in a way. Then again, one more of these and we fulfill the definition of a recession.
Right this morning, I asked the Commerce Secretary Gina Romando has joined us on balance of power, if that's a concern for her, if she's reading into this any further than this quarter here she is. If you look at small business starts, um, they're higher than ever. Wages her up and talk to CEOs about their businesses. They you know, the economy is resilient and growing, so at this point, obviously you don't want to see this, you know, the disappointing.
You never want to see it. But we weren't surprised, and I don't think it's a trend. Okay, a trend one quarter does not make, which means the Fed keeps hiking. So nothing to see here, move right along or is there? Let's talk about it with Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst and managing director at Raymond James. I'm guessing Ed, this is not the number that you or your firm was
looking for. Here. It was a bit of a shocker, but also people don't seem to be terribly concerned about it, considering why when you look under the hood, Joe, when you look under the hood, um, you know, certainly tells a different story. But when I look at this from a political angle, I'm reminded that in politics, when you're explaining you're losing and so uh if you do have
two consecutive quarters, you mentioned the R word. Uh. Here in d C. The R word is great for Republicans because Biden has wanted to sell the Biden boom heading into the midterm elections. Um, and this really changes the conversation, even if it's not true. Um, the rhetoric here really
is what's going to matter from a political perspective. Well, let's let's hold on to that view for a moment, because you know, the President didn't get out of the Roosevelt Room without a question on the economy and a possible recession. He was there, of course, someone ask you about this, had to commit tens of billions more to Ukraine. But as the questions came, number three, number four, he was asked about this. And the President doesn't seem too
concerned about a recession here. He is, we need this boom, the support you created, this fight for freedom, and our NATO allies are you partners. They're gonna pay their fair share of the costs as well. But we have to do this. We have to do our part as well. The cost of this fight. Uh, it's not cheap, but kvy new aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen. He was talking about Ukraine there.
I don't know if we have the other one, uh, ed, But the idea in his response was it's not likely that we move into recession much like we heard from his Commerce secretary, uh, Gina Romando. Is that a hopeful view or is it when you share? Well, that's the view he has to have. Um. You know, the president has to be a cheerleader for the economy. The president has to kind of highlight some of the economic indicators that on paper have been really positive in terms of
where the consumer is. We've seen through earning seasons. Uh, some of the Bank's kind of highlighting the balances and individual checking accounts. But the problem politically has been, um, what it looks like on paper versus what it feels like for the average American. And so where this is politically problematic for the president in for congressional Democrats is that Americans by a pretty sizable number already are saying
that this country is on the wrong track. And if the economic data then changes to support that view, those are just more political headwinds that the president in congressional Democrats are facing come the voting time in November. This all comes against the backdrop of inflation and a pretty aggressive federal reserve. At this point, we're looking for a half point next week. There's talk of of seventy five basis points maybe at the meeting after ED. Does this
report today do anything to change your expectations on that front? Joe, it doesn't. I do think that because of how you highlighted UM, you know, kind of the beneath the hood aspect of this um. You know, that doesn't change the trajectory of the FED UM. And I do think that that overall is going to continue to put pressure UM on you know, consumers as they look for mortgages in a lot of pocketbook issues. There is a hope that
the FEDS tightening does tame inflation. I think the debate that I've had with clients as I've been on the road here at Raymond James this last week has been once the inflation indicators come down a little bit and we get some new confirmations on the FED board, how hawkish will the FED be able to remain? But near term this doesn't change. And Joe, for the party in charge, that's a problem. Let's talk more about the requests that he made. You just heard President Biden from earlier today.
Thirty three billion dollars is the number. And from every lawmaker we have spoken with, this gets passed without even really it's almost a blank check who there's so much bipartisan supply word for funding Ukraine in this war Uh with Russia. The question that I will have beyond does that get past head because it seems to be a yes, is what's attached to it? Are we gonna try to
attach COVID funding? Is there going to be a conversation about Title forty two supplemental for homeland for the border? What are you hearing, Joe? You're exactly right to bring this up because there is no doubt that there is overwhelming support for this package for Ukraine. It's really just a question of timing. Uh. You've already seen congressional Republicans come out and say if the COVID relief package gets
added to it, Uh, it could sink both packages. I don't think that's the case, but Republicans do like to or prefer to have this as two separate votes. That's not an issue in the House. The House can pass anything, but to get this through the Senate, you do need a bipartisan vote. You do need those sixty votes on the COVID package. That's more likely than not to still happen. UM. But the vote is going to have to take place
on Title forty two. We had a judge this week strike that down, which is going to put even more pressure on Democrats uh to vote to keep Title forty two in place, keep um the you know, pandemic restrictions on asylum and uh kind of refugee seekers in the United States on the other side of the US border. So politically, this is going to be a tough needle
to thread, especially in the Senate for Chuck Schumer. And the more time you spend on this is time that you're not spending on other priorities, uh, such as reconciliation, which um Democrats really do want to take another run at it. So every day of floor time is a day away from other priorities. That's the bigger issue. Well,
that reconciliation idea. And I know that they wanted to make another turn and still might this year that that option is available, but it may not fly if now Joe Mansion once again the wrench in the works here. He wants to come up with a deal that gets bipartisan support and does not require reconciliation, and it would be some sort of mix of energy and climate. I don't think we'd call it build back better or make America whatever. It would have to have a new brand
and a new marketing campaign. But if that's what Joe Mansion wants, I'm assuming he's not playing along with this reconciliation idea once again. You think, yeah, Joe, that's not gonna happen. I'm not gonna know. I mean, we're yeah, it's it's um kind of more and more we're seeing kind of from conversations here in DC, the Biden administration being concerned whether or not they can get Mansion to a table. I do think that part of this is,
you know, fully energy specific. You know, he has a chairmanship in a gabble where he wants to have a process, at least in his committee. It's been shocking to me that they have not kind of listened to that desire for him to shape this package. If they get reconciliation, if there's any legislative package, it is going to be first and foremost an energy package. Some healthcare provisions, maybe a couple of other, uh smaller scale down versions of
social spending. But you know, the more they kind of don't listen to exactly what he's asking for and don't move in that direction. That's a step away from getting anything done. Why not just have him write it. I mean, didn't we already see all of this. We saw this movie last year. We already know the ending. It doesn't
play well for the White House yet. Yeah. I think that the thought from the White House was as much as they needed to have some hard thought wins and getting him on board because of the voice of the Progressives was pushing in. Senator Sanders, chairman of the Budget Committee in charge of the process started off at six trillion dollars. You also had to have hard fought losses um and um. You know, you had to show that they were standing up to something, to show the Democratic
base what was not achievable. I think they spent too much time there and didn't recognize that Mansion was going to hold as farm as he was. The inflation picture, the economic picture has only worsened, so they missed that window. They want to get something done. We'll see if we erupted in history again this year, and we'll talk to Ed about it. Great to spend time with Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James will assemble the panel next.
This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio as we bring in the panel following a really fascinating conversation with Ed Mills about the chances of real anything happening in Congress between now and the rest of the year, certainly in the conversation about Build Back Better, the sequel and whatever stripped down version we might end up with here, we're gonna be talking about this in just a moment with barat ram
A Murdy, the Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council. They've got a big event going on over there today for small businesses trying to unlock resources for small business that we'll talk with in a moment. Deputy Director Roma Murdy, Welcome to Bloomberg Radio. It's great to have you here. I'm going to ask you about this small biz event that you're hosting at the White House today.
Looking forward to hearing about it. I'm just curious to get your your first reaction though to our g d P report today. Was it startling to see that word contraction on the screen this morning or did you see it coming? Well? I think that a number of analysts had predicted that because of some technical quirks and how the data is collected and analyzed that we would have
the possibility of seeing a number like that. I do think that if you look under the hood of today's real court, what you see are continued signs of a resilient economy. You see very strong consumer spending, You see very very strong business investment, you see very strong residential investment.
The reasons that it went negative are kind of more volatile data about trade and about inventories, and so if you take a look at the big picture here and get past the headline, I think you continue to see evidence a very strong economic recovery that, by many measures, is the strongest economic recovery of any leading economy in
the world. Well, it's certainly how the market seems to be taking it in our analysis here at Bloomberg would would align with what you're saying that you know, in one instance, we had ships lined up, as you well know, uh brought at the ports up and down the West coast. A lot of those ships came in and so we had a massive trade imbalance here. Is there a chance
that that might happen again in this quarter? Well, it's it's hard to predict, but I think your main point is correct, which is that part of what you are seeing here in the data is that some of the supply chain issues that we are grappling with for a significant chunk of last year coming out of COVID are starting to resolve themselves. One of the things the President is proud of is that working with business groups and labor, he was able to push the ports of l A
and Long Beach. They opened twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, massively increase their throughput, and you know, we're starting to see some of those effects in the data. I think on the whole, it's a good sign for Americans that they're able to get their imported goods on time and in an efficient way. UM inflation is going to start coming in? Is that? Is this happening as
you were hoping? Again, if you look at outside analysts and some other projections, inflation by many many, by many accounts is predicted to UH to temper and go down over the course of this year. Of course, there are many unpredictable things that could happen. I think if you look at the data that we have before, is right now there is very clear evidence that Number one the US economic recovery is the strongest in the world. Number two.
If you look at I m F projections, the economic growth that's projected through the end of the year puts the United States number one among G seven countries. Number three. Household balance sheets, by many measures, have never been healthier, not for thirty years. You look at debt to debt to income ratio, the ability of folks to pay off credit card debt and other debts. Families as a whole are a very strong financial position, and that creates a
good buffer for our time. You were a member of the COVID Congressional Oversight Commission, which oversaw the Treasuries management of stimulus from the Cares Act. You hear people now, I'm I'm sure barat as I do blaming the stimulus for overheating the economy. Are they right about that? When you look back on decisions that were made then, I think we were dealing with highly uncertain and uh and
cataclysmic event. You know, we look, we saw unemployment reached levels that hadn't been reached since the Great Depression, and under those circumstances, policymakers overall, I think have the right approach let's get money into the hands of families, in the hands of small businesses that needed go big was the line. Then Yeah, and if you look at the quality, the the strength of our recovery, and the speed of
our recovery, that paid dividends. I just want to go back and put people in the position that we were in before this president took office, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office was projecting we would have unemployment about five percent for years to come and that we wouldn't reach three point six percent unemployment for many years from now. Instead, we reached three point six percent unemployment a couple months ago. So uh, that's made a really powerful difference in a
lot of people's lives. Long term unemployment can be very scarring for folks. It's bad for families, it's bad for the economy. We avoided a lot of those negative effects, but you see it as a necessary cost to getting out of that crisis. As we spend time with Barat Rama Murty of the White House National Economic Council, which he helps to run as deputy director, Baratt, how are you helping to unlock resources for entrepreneurs in this time?
We talked so much about inflation. You and I are right now, it can there can be a lot of challenges to starting a business. I know today that you're you're holding a major event for small business at the White House, UH to actually talk about the President's speaking about this what he refers to as the small business boom. What can you do to help somebody who's trying to
start a business in this economic climate. I think what the report that came out today shows is that looking at one the first year of the Biden presidency, h an unprecedented historic number of Americans started new businesses. In fact, it was higher than in any prior year on record. Um it was higher for Hispanic entrepreneurs and and similarly a record higher for Black entrepreneurs. And so we're seeing entrepreneurs of color really getting in the game as well.
It's a good story to tell. Bara Rama Murty. I wish I had more time with your deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council on Bloomberg. I'm Joe Matthew. Thanks for being with us on the fastest hour in politics. I'm Joe Matthew. You at World Headquarters in New York, and we've got our signature panel as we hope to have on days like these when the president is asked
about a recession. And that is what happened today after he announced the big ask for Ukraine thirty three billion dollars. We discussed that with Ed Mills and it came with a bit of questioning. I don't know if the Communications Office planned this, but the President was asked about the GDP reports today. The chances of this may be happening twice serious have to be take a look and knowing
it predictating recession. Now they're predicting their summer, predicting there may be a recession in what Why did he I'm not sure why he said that, Rick Davis, Genie Chanzano with us, Rick, is that the answer you would have advised him, No, talk about putting a punctuation mark on otherwise badness? Right, Uh, nothing to worry about today, but next year could be awful. Yeah. And and why go there? Um, Why try to predict a recession when you've you've actually
got some underlying good news to talk about today. Uh, in the GDP numbers and stick to the positive. And Uh, I don't know, I mean maybe this was just another Biden is um We've seen this before and we're gonna see it again. Genie, are we gonna get a recession in three? I hope not? And you know I'm gonna get one in two. You know, let's let's hope not. But you know, I think the problem here is exactly
what you and ed we're talking about. Any time you have to explain this, I can't tell you how many people I heard today add nauseam talking about well, go beyond the headline and look under the hood. You know, those kinds of metaphors are are disastrous politically because what they're saying is the thing that people are seeing and hearing and feeling. Don't worry about that, pay attention to this complicated thing which explains why everything you're feeling is wrong.
I mean, to a certain extent. It's like the difference between macro and microeconomics. I go by Hamburger. It's expensive. You can tell me. Unemployment is you know, good, the number is good, but it's meaningless to me. And that's where I think the president has to really get to. He's got to talk about I feel your pain, and we're here to address it. And this is how you know, I know that that's an uphill battle as to how.
But he's got to say he feels people's pain because you look at the polls, there's a lot of pain out there. Well, it's supposed to be his uh, his his strength, Rick is feeling your pain. Isn't that that Joe Biden? You know? Yeah, Uncle Joe. I mean, empathy is his strength. And uh and and yet I think he's been disconnected from the economic population since this administration started. Um, he's great on natural disasters, which I hate to say that,
but he's responded well to them. But but on these economic issues, he's just he's just seems to be forgetting that people are impacted by this. It first started, you know, when he would ignore inflation, and now he's kind of throwing recession out there is as some thing that's going to happen no matter what the administration does. Genie, as you consider the messaging around this this g d P report, does the White House need to prepare people for more
bad news this current quarter? They seem to be going out of their way to talk about the upside on this, and Ed Mills did too. I mean, look, consumers are still spending that there are are still real signs of strength in our economy, despite what the markets have been doing lately and despite the impact of this war. Yeah, and I think you can do both. I think surrogates can certainly say, here's the flip side of this, look at there are positive signs. This isn't the whole story.
That's fine to say. At the same time, they have to do both. They have to say, we know why. The latest Gallop Show poll showed four and five people rate the current economic conditions as fair or poor. Those are big, big numbers. So yeah, say what's positive? Say why you got to look beyond the headlines, but acknowledge the pain people are feeling and tell them how you're going to make it better. That's what they've got to do with just a few months before the midterm. Well
how can you make it better? Rick? When if if this is a global story. I asked Gina mc gena McCarthy's Gina Romando about this earlier today. If this is supply chain and COVID, that's why we have inflation, that's what the administration tells us. Add the war that makes it worse. Do we run the risk of causing a recession? Rick? Or how how likely is it that the FED causes one with interest great hikes when this is this is a recession or an inflation that's being prompted by different
factors than they have really ever dealt with. That's right. And and we knew going into this cycle that it was going to be the fight at the FED between the guys on growth and the guys on fighting an inflation. And and look, I mean the chairman's a growth guy. I mean, so you've got the right people at at the at the helm uh And but you're right, it is a It is a global story, and part of it is this lockdown in China. I mean, like you've talked about, oh macrown and how that impacted us in
the first quarter of the war in a craze this quarter. Um. But but there's been a tremendous impact of the global economy by a self inflicted severe lockdown in China that is definitely going to affect the supply chain that has been so difficult for us. So, Um. The fact that the country's weather the storm as well as it has is actually remarkable. It does little for the policy makers to say that. But frankly, I'm sure the feed is looking this and looking at these numbers saying, wow, this
is great. We've still got growth um and I think they will manage uh, they're part of the portfolio to ensure that that growth continues. Well, the question, I guess is, what is that growth still going to be evident after a half point next week basis points apparently the meeting after that, Genie, I mean this, this will at some point have heavy impacts. I'm assuming on consumer spending. It's got to work its way through the economy. And boy,
I don't know, does that happen right around November? You know, the worst timing, And that's what we keep hearing. You know, the recession is not imminent, but look, you know a few months from hours, people are saying one year from now. And even to have the President out there today, you know, while he's you know, saying he's going to ask Congress for thirty three billion dollars for Ukraine, he's answering questions
which get him into talking about a recession potentially. I mean, the juxtaposition of those two things is really problematic for this White House. The money is needed for Ukraine, but you can bet people are going to start to ask questions. This is a lot of money when the President is at the same time talking about a recession next year. Rick and Jeanie still with us ahead as Joe Mansion swoops back in just in time to save the day. We'll check markets on the way. This is Bloomberg. You're
listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Welcoming back the gentleman from West Virginia to the conversation. Joe Mansions making news again. I was just reading he's on the outs with the White House. They didn't want to bother each other after the whole build back Better fell apart. Now he's got a plan and it's bipartisan. He says, to avoid the use of reconciliation, even though it's likely Democrats will do that at some
point this year. As we discussed earlier this hour with Ed Mills at Raymond James, there are opportunities and you don't just walk away from them in politics. But Joe Mansion has an idea here that you get a couple of Republicans on board, you call it bipartisan. You don't have to use reconciliation, and it's narrow energy and climate.
And he's got some people listening here talking about a new look at leases for drilling and more broadly, helping to bridge the gap between the world we're in now burning fossil fuels and a world will eventually be in with renewables, but doing it in a way that doesn't cause well hundred dollar a barrel oil for the whole duration. Here's Senator Mansion today. We need a two path system. Okay. You have to have being the climate and you have
to have the reliability of the fossil. Those two go across sometime, could be five years, could be ten years or whatever. You can't eliminate one before the other. If not, you end up like Germany, you end up like Europe. Problem there. What is it going anywhere? And can you get enough Republicans and holds enough Democrats to make this happen? I wonder what the White House thinks about it. As we reassemble the panel, Rick and Janie are here Bloomberg
Politics contributors Rick Davis, Genie Chanzano. Is this the kind of thing that at the White House they're all getting another desks right now, Genie? Or is it good news that they can work together again. You think it would be good news, But I think so many people at the White House, and so many Democrats quite frankly, feel frustrated by their dealings with Joe Manchin that they aren't willing to go there. I mean, you look at the latest that just Bernie Sanders, and again unlikely he would
have gone there anyways. But but what he has to say, you know, talking about you know, sort of um, the the idea that he felt torpedoed and the idea that this is no way to behave as a colleague, that this was arrogant of mansion and cinema. You know, those are the kind of words, you know, burned is what you're hearing. So, you know, I do think it's a long shot to think you could get something done. I mean, do I think they should. Absolutely, they should take what
they can get and go forward. That means Mansion and Cinema have to be on board. But but it doesn't seem at least that they have the will to do that in the next few weeks. Rick, are you rolling your eyes or is this actually the kind of development that you're looking for to get Congress working again. Yeah, I was kind of expecting a couple of things. One
mansion has been against so many things. You knew he was going to come up with something to before, right, you can't you can't be doctor No in the Senate forever. And so I'm sure he sees this moment where the Biden administration, always a foe of fossil fuels, has now had to go out to the industry and say give me more, give me more. We're desperate, and and so you know, I think he wants to try to embed that into something that he can bring Democrats along with
by pairing it with with climate. And and this administration has done very little with climate so far. So he's kind of hitting the seam. It's not gonna last forever. A lot of it is tied to these global events in the Ukraine and Russia. But um, I think it was smart on his part at least have something out there where people could react to him rather than him
reacting to this administration. Certainly good for him. Uh. Does the White House have to make a choice, though, Rick, between this and using reconciliation to do really some pretty similar things. No, they don't have to trade anything. Um, they should, they should have the the attitude let a thousand flowers bloom, right, I mean, like we've got ideas,
you've got ideas. Let's see what gets sticky. Um. They right now that their number one thing isn't you know, like we're talking earlier inflation and and and getting that under control. That's what's the political uh requirement. But all these other issues, domestic issues, healthcare, all the things that this administration promised, they should they should be encouraging every member to come up with ideas, either through reconciliation or
through regular order. Life Mansion is talking about as a lot of progressives, Genie want to see this president use executive action more to get this stuff done, Like don't even pick up the phone, just write the document, you know, by yourself as sharpie like the last guy, and make it happen already. Yeah, and and this is what we've
seen politically in the modern era. The problem is, of course, that the executive actions are more limited, and they're more easily overturned, both in the courts and also if Joe Biden isn't president in you know, or whoever comes in, they're easy to overturn. You're far better off moving this through regular legislation and you know, I think one thing that Joe Mansion could get on board with and and and move forward with, and certainly the White House could is to talk about moving on the l n G
plants in terms of something like security. You know, this is something they need to do as we look at what was happening in Poland and Bulgaria the other day, potentially Germany and Italy, those are permitted already. If the President could fast track some of those, they could get certainly a lot of bipartisan support on something like that. It would be skinny, It would be a skinny energy package, but it would be something to hang their hat on and it would be a positive in terms of the economy.
I haven't had a chance to ask you both about the Ukraine request. Is that thirty three billion uh go through with a with an easy clean vote, Rick or is there going to be a lot of stuff attached to it. We're hearing about COVID funding, We're hearing about Title forty two funding. We're hearing about a lot of things right now. Yeah. Well, that Title forty two is part of the executive actions that the Biden administration is taking that the progressives wanted and ered a disaster with
the public, So be careful what you asked for. Um. This thirty three billion should go through literally before the end of this week, if it's not tied to COVID funding or any of these other issues. Uh. If Schumer's smart, he declares a win, gets this money moving, and controls his caucus to not try to attach these additional COVID funds uh. And and he can get something done really quick, and the President will look like he's got good leadership, and it will give us Lensky a win, and it
will drive the Russians crazy. And of course that's what we love to do, is drive the Russians crimy to watch it pass without a blink of an eye. Here, but Genie, this might be their only opportunity to get that money. I mean you you do have some Republicans involved. Well, I guess by the one by the name of Mitt Romney, you helped to craft that deal to get at least half the money that the White House is asking for
for COVID. Yeah, you know, but you know you're talking about the terms clean and the US Congress out of my mind. I don't mean to make you laugh. This is the comedy portion of the broadcast. You're you're very optimistic, and you know, God willing it would go through. We heard you know that, We know that the President is saying, you know, put it through, you know, by itself in a clean way, as you say, um. But I can bet that they are going to try to attach a
lot to it and it is going. You know, anybody who thinks this thing is going to get through in a week, I hope it does. But that is an uphill battle in this Congress. People are going to be adding a lot to it, and it's a big ask. It's double what has been asked before it's needed. But there's going to be things at it in there. We spent some time earlier talking about the Mansion on the Hill, and I've got to ask you guys about this story once again. Another take on the potential the possibility of
Joe Mansion switching parties. This one comes from the duo that wrote the book of the two New York Times reporters wrote the book that that exposed the tape with Kevin McCarthy, Jonathan Martin Alexander Burns. Apparently, at least this is their reporting. Uh, Joe Mansion told John Thune that that he would in fact consider switching parties if Thune became majority leader. Today he shot that down. Here's what
Joe Mansion said. These are all my friends on both sides of the John Thune is a most decent human being and a good friend of mine. But no, they know where I'm at. And Ms McConnell as He's tried everything him I possible. At the bottom line is I am West Virginia Democrat. I'm not a Washington Democrat. Genie, What does that mean? What's the difference between a West Virginia Democrat and a Washington Democrat? You know? And Joe Mansions?
You know, world, it is somebody who sticks to their guns despite being sort of ostracized from much of the energy of the party on the left. But of course, you know, why would Joe Mansion at this point switch. He's got all the power, He's the person everybody is talking about. It would be, you know, the height of insanity to switch now. Maybe another time, but right now he's got Washington in the palm of his hand, is
Genie right on that one? Rick? And as a Republican, would you love to see him maybe just step over a little bit closer. Yeah, Look, I'd love him to be a Republican. A West Virginia Democrat is a Republican. That's just code. And so, um, I think I think that it would be great for him to be here. But but that agenda, the McConnell agenda, would be to
just stop everything that Biden is doing. And I do think there's a part of Mansion that wants to get something done, and he knows the only way is something done is with the full backing of the Democratic leadership in the White House. They still have the numbers to pass legislation and signed it into law, and the Republicans can't give him that. Maybe I should have asked you first,
is John Thune ever going to be Majority leader? Uh? Sure, he decided to run for re election, which was not a uh a certainty at the beginning of this year. And Mitch McConnell, you know, uh, nobody knows how long he'll want to serve as majority leader. But that's that's the succession plan. That's the succession plan. What does that mean for Chuck Schumer? Genie? You know, Um, Chuck Schumer has got to keep the Senate if if he wants to be a majority leader. Um and you know, minority leader.
I mean, does he does he keep the job in that instance? You know, I think he likely will. I'm not sure. There's a lot of other people that are, you know, vying for that right now. But you know, it's it's a hard year and I think, you know, Chuck Schumer has had a really really difficult time. He's had some wins. We got to give him that, the you know, first majority leader from New York in history, but he's had a tough time in the last year. He's got a couple of tough weeks ahead of him
as well. A great conversation with Rick and Genie. Rick, good luck with everything. This weekend, they've got the big Sedona Summit kicking off at the McCain Institute. Genie will be back with us tomorrow and I'll meet you here as well. On the Fastest Hour in Politics. From World Headquarters in New York, I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg