“Well, we're going to get something done, it will probably be a short-term C.R. and it will be this coming week to give us a little more time. Negotiations are very vigorous, and I think that we're going to get agreement both on the top line, how much spending is going to be, and how it will be spent—but it's not there yet so I expect to do a Continuing Resolution to continue the authorization for government to operate and be funded this coming week, and hopefully the Senate will do the same.”

“…An omnibus is absolutely essential and very frankly, Jonathan, as you know, I’m a great critic of the Congress not getting its work done on time. We should have passed all 12 appropriation bills to fund government for this coming fiscal year that we're now in, Fiscal Year '22…We passed bills in the House. We can pass an omnibus in the House, but, of course, the Senate is 50/50 and you need Republicans and Democrats to cooperate….”

On the Build Back Better Agenda and House Democrats’ Work For the People

“..I think a lot of what the House passed and sent to the Senate will be included in Build Back Better, and I'm still one who believes, as the President does, that we're going to pass Build Back Better. It will be, as every piece of legislation that goes between the Senate and the House, changed somewhat by the other House, and we'll have to reach agreement, but I am very confident that some of the very important elements that every Senator on the Democratic side has said they support will be included in that bill. We're working very hard to get Build Back Better done, because that will be an additional step in building our economy, building opportunity for people protecting their health, providing for the education of our children, providing for accessible child care, and accessible and affordable health care. Those are items on which I think we have agreement within the Democratic party, unanimously. And so I’m very hopeful that that will pass soon, and it will continue to give confidence which we saw in those 460,000+ jobs that were created last month, and the 6.6 million jobs that have been created in the last 12 months under the Biden Administration, we will see that confidence added to, giving people the opportunity to go back to work. We need people coming back to work, we've got a lot of people doing that, but we need to continue this effort, and I would hope that Republicans would join us in this effort, seeing how successful the [American] Rescue Plan was, the [bipartisan] infrastructure plan has been, in getting people back to work and creating economic energy and growth.”

“It's an extraordinary Congress in what it has already done in the first 12 months, or 13 months of this Congress, just extraordinary legislation. I mentioned the American Rescue Plan, I mentioned the infrastructure bill, I mentioned Build Back Better, and now the [America] COMPETES Act. All have passed the House, now, two of those have not yet passed the Senate, but if we pass those bills, I think Democrats are going to be wildly enthusiastic because we carried out what we said we would do for the people: not the richest people, not the most well off, not the least vulnerable people, but the people who really need our help, and in helping them, we're going to help the entire American economy and psyche. In that context, I think our Democrats are going to get very, very excited in this next election. Of course, you're dealing with a world of alternatives. Right now they're looking at the Biden Administration, looking at the Democratic Congress, and I think our Democrats think we're doing good things. That's what I hear, but I also think their enthusiasm is going to be engendered greatly when they look at the alternatives.”

On Republicans’ Whitewashing of January 6th

“Absurd, inexplicable that a responsible group of Americans, and perhaps they are not, would look at what happened on January 6th which was insurrection, treason, the putting at risk and killing police officers, that that was somehow ‘legitimate political discourse.’ Absurd. A party that has fallen that far does not deserve the support and respect of the American people.”