Real Time host Bill Maher has expressed support for moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, as they face down progressives in the party in a civil war over President Joe Biden's multitrillion spending plans.
Maher opened his panel discussion of Friday night with journalists Matt Taibbi and Katherine Mangu-Ward by discussing the chaos on Capitol Hill between the warring Democrat factions.
Progressives are threatening to tank Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure plan, which centrists support, if the moderate faction does not also back the broader $3.5 trillion social spending bill that is packed with their priorities.
Maher noted that House progressives are 'very mad' at Sinema and Manchin for blocking the broader bill.
'They're mad at them because they're not progressive enough -- forgetting that they only got elected because they're not progressives! They're moderates,' Maher said.
Real Time host Bill Maher has expressed support for moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, as they face down progressives in the party
Manchin and Sinema (seen on Thursday) are the key holdouts on Biden's $3.5T social spending plan, and progressives are blocking a $1T infrastructure bill as leverage to get their votes
'Here's my question: Does spending more money make you a better person?' Maher asked.
'And maybe these two, Sinema and Manchin, do they might have their thumb more on the pulse on the average Democrat in the country?' he asked.
Both Manchin, from West Virginia, and Sinema, from Arizona, won close races in 2018 in states that have Republican governors, by garnering support from independents.
Earlier, in his monologue, Maher also tackled the budget fights in DC, noting that Congress had passed an 11th hour stopgap measure on Thursday to prevent a government shutdown.
'You're cheering? Because we made it through 'til December 3. That's what they did!' Maher reacted. 'This is the equivalent of putting duct tape on your shower nozzle until you actually call the plumber.'
'This stupid, stupid game of chicken that they always play when a Democrat is the president and Republicans can make him look like an a**hole,' Maher said.
'And of course, at the last
