Khanna praises progressive caucus for standing firm

He gave kudos for the caucus being willing to vote down the infrastructure bill unless and until Build Back Better (BBB) was passed first in the Senate. And he noted that "people were surprised as the first time the progressives have actually flexed political power in a good way to make sure that working class concerns [...] actually matter and we're not just going to pass things without those being in the bill." 

He also addressed Thom's idea, that now that Manchin wants it to be only $1.5 trillion instead of $3.5 trillion over 10 yeas then ok, let's accept Manchin's number but make it over 4 years instead. That way by the '24 election the programs will have been implemented and working so thereby impossible to take away and providing added incentive to keep voting for progressives. Khanna said he's taking that idea to the caucus so we might be seeing it as part of the negotiations going forward.