Looking back at her last 15 months in the White House, outgoing press secretary Jen Psaki told Newsmax on Thursday morning her biggest disappointment was the failure of Congress to pass the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill.
Psaki spoke at a Washington, D.C., press breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
"There were many moments where we thought Build Back Better, the reconciliation package, our plan to lower costs — whatever you want to call it — would have been done," the president's top spokesperson said.
The plan includes massive spending on climate change and social policy. Among the provisions included in the bill were $555 billion for climate change, $400 billion for childcare and pre-school, $150 billion for housing, and $150 billion for homecare.
Referring to its provisions on childcare, Psaki cited her experience of "being a mom" and told us, "I would have felt really good about [enacting the plan] … there are always moments you look back because hindsight is 20-20, right?"
She went on to say, "looking back, it was necessary to spend a lot of time having meetings in the Oval Office, but you know, that's a difficult way to communicate. It's not an effective way to communicate and that allows disagreements between members of Congress, which, frankly, the American public does not care at all about."
Slimmed down to $2.2 trillion, Build Back Better passed the House in November last year by a vote of 220-213, but it was stopped in the Senate when moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., pulled his support.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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