Bill Maher slams the 'gang' who followed Kyrsten Simena into a bathroom and tells progressives their demand for 'everything' is the reason 'they're not bringing anything home'
Real Time host Bill Maher has slammed the 'gang' of activists who followed Senator Kyrsten Simena into a bathroom and hit out at progressive Democrats for 'not bringing anything home' because they are demanding 'everything' with the infrastructure bill.
Maher sparred with rapper Killer Mike - real name Michael Render - and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa as they joined him as panelists on his show Friday night.
The host blasted the 'outrageous' incident last weekend when Senator Sinema was followed into a bathroom and hounded by progressive activists at Arizona State University.
The protesters, with social justice group Living United for Change in Arizona, were seeking to confront the Democratic senator for Arizona over her opposition to Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan.
Simena and fellow moderate Democrat Senator Joe Manchin are refusing to back the spending bill while progressives are refusing to support the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure plan unless they do - creating a stalemate.
This has forced Democrats to go back to the drawing board on the $3.5 trillion agenda as they try to whittle it down to just $2 trillion.
Real Time host Bill Maher slammed the 'gang' of activists who followed Kyrsten Simena into a bathroom and hit out at progressive Democrats over the spending bill on his show Friday
Maher blasted the activists during his monologue where he branded them a 'gang' and said it was 'over the top.'
'It's getting chippy out there. She was at ASU and a gang of Gen. Z activists followed her into the bathroom,' he said.
'Then they went back to demanding that we make campuses a safe space,' he mocked.
Maher added: 'I think that's a little over the top.'
The TV host continued to criticize the incident as he debated the current battle between the moderates and progressives within the Democratic party with his guest panelists.
'I think this is outrageous,' Maher said of the harassment of Simena, reported Fox News.
'You may not like the politics, but when this s**t starts to happen, I don't know where the safe space is in America. And I don't know where it ends.'
Render agreed that he 'doesn't think it's right' to follow a lawmaker into a bathroom but said Democrats 'need to bring something home' with the spending bills as he warned that people are getting 'angry'.
Maher sparred with rapper Killer Mike - real name Michael Render - and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa as they joined him as panelists on his show Friday night
Killer Mike (left) said Democrats 'need to bring something home' with the spending bills. Costa (right) chimed in that 'democracy in this country is on the brink'
Maher pushed back at his comments, arguing that progressives are asking for too much.
'But one reason they're not bringing anything home - they could have that $1 trillion infrastructure bill,' he said.
'And, by the way, $1 trillion – still to some people, is a lot of money.'
'It's a lot of jobs, building bridges and roads and all kinds of stuff. That's being held up, Mike, by people who are saying what you're saying: 'We want everything and we want it now. And if we don't get it, then you don't get anything.''
Maher added: 'And sometimes when you ask for the whole loaf, you get none!'
Render responded arguing that 'sometimes you get more when you push for more', to which Maher argued back: 'Not in Washington. Not very often in Washington.'
Costa, who co-wrote Peril with Bob Woodward, chimed in that, while the in-fighting rages on in the Democratic party, 'democracy in this country is on the brink' and the nation is in a critical moment.
Kyrsten Sinema was followed into a bathroom and hounded by progressive activists at Arizona State University
The protesters, with social justice group Living United for Change in Arizona, were seeking to confront the Democratic senator for Arizona over her opposition to Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan
This marks the second show in as many weeks that Maher has leaped to defend Sinema.
Last week, he 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.
'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.
Sinema and Manchin have been the subjects of growing progressive fury for their opposition to the $3.5 trillion measure.
Sinema (left) and fellow moderate Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (right) are refusing to back the $3.5 trillion spending bill while progressives are refusing to support the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure plan unless they do - creating a stalemate
On Friday, it emerged that Sinema reportedly wants to cut $100 billion in climate proposals from the spending bill making its way through Congress.
Party leaders have promised to protect at least $450 billion in climate legislation over two programs - the $150 billion Clean Electricity Program and a package of roughly $300 billion in tax incentives to spur use of wind, solar and electric vehicles.
There is still another $200 billion in climate proposals that could be cut to drive down the cost.
Proposals that could be chopped include $30 billion for a 'Green Bank' to help communities build solar panels and $30 billion for a 'Civilian Climate Corps' to hire young people work in climate adaptation.
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