“I’ve already talked about it, but I can’t say more than that,” said Warren, when asked how to suspend Biden’s bill across the country. She held events in Massachusetts last week promoting the stimulus.
Sanders said that when it comes to hosting events for Biden, “at this point, the answer is no, but we will see – I think they are doing a great job.”
Klobuchar and Warren have national followers due to their primary in 2020. Sanders has one of the largest fan bases in politics and has traveled to rural locations in Trump-voting states to sell progressive policies, such as raising the minimum wage and plan single payer health. Sanders’ office contacted the White House about travel to promote the stimulus package, but received no response from the government, according to a source familiar with the talks.
The White House did not return a request for comment.
The prospect of a collaborative public relations effort across the Democratic Party, including with Biden’s former presidential rivals, reflects the urgency that Democrats are bringing to the task of selling the stimulus bill. It became an article of faith among members that they erred in 2009 when working with the Republican Party on a stimulus bill that was too small to deal with the economic crisis or be recognized by voters as being useful to them. They also believe that the then Obama White House did not adequately explain the package to the public.
In 2010, the party lost a majority in the House and remained in the minority for eight years.
“We negotiated this project to get Republican support and it ended up not being big enough. So, when we tried to explain the need to pass the Recovery Act, many people didn’t accept it because they didn’t see how it affected their lives. It won’t happen this time, ”said Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Who was serving in the Chamber at the time.
Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) was not contacted by the White House to help sell the package in other parts of the country, but it has initiated some efforts in its home state, according to a Senate aide. Manchin has written eight local opinion articles since Biden signed the bailout plan as a law and his office plans to ask questions and answers with local officials after the Treasury Department issues guidelines on how the money allocated to localities to fight the pandemic and boost impetus. Local industries can and cannot be spent.
While the White House seeks to implant Democrats in the House and Senate, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are already crossing the country to sell the bill themselves.
Biden traveled to Chester, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, to highlight the aid delivered to small businesses in the plan, which directed billions of dollars to the Pay Check Protection Program and other grant programs. And Harris started his part of the tour in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday, visiting a vaccination site and with members of the culinary union.
“I’m also here to make sure we get the message out, so people know what they are entitled to,” Harris told reporters during his trip on Monday. She added that “it should be your government’s job” to help “when you need a little help to overcome a moment of crisis that you didn’t create”.