President Biden threw his support behind an infrastructure agreement reached by a bipartisan group of 20 senators on Thursday, announcing in the Rose Garden that “we have a deal.”
Countdown for Yertle to block things yet again…
3, 2, 1…
Now watch as McConnell and 44 other Republicans vote against it and kill this watered down bill.
”When asked whether he trusted Republican senators to follow through, Biden replied that ‘They’ve given me their word.’”
I think I spot a problem…
And today’s word for the day, kids:
intransigence
This proves Biden is a socialist, right?
It’s still good PR.
Republican plan, as always: “negotiate” Dems down on the bill, forcing compromises in order secure their support, then vote no on the final bill anyway. Oh, and then run to Fox to complain about a partisan power grab.
So predictable.
The deal includes 5 GQPers. Ergo, even assuming all Dems go along with it, it does not have the 10 GQPers to avoid the filibuster, so it’s dead.
I’m glad this happened relatively quickly.
If McTurtle lets his party approve this, great.
If not…the push to kill the filibuster might get a big enough shove to move even Manchin.
.
This is a dance. I saw and heard the “We Got Two Bills” interviews with O’Donnell last nite.
I’ll leave it at that.
This is such a coup for Biden. He doesn’t care about this bipartisan infrastructure bill. It’s too small. He wants the American Jobs Plan/American Families Plan reconciliation bill. He also wants to restructure tax rates. It’s all about messaging to Indies and getting Manchin’s and Sinema’s votes.
Manchin and Sinema had been withholding their support for the AJP/AFP infrastructure plan unless they got WH commitment to support a bipartisan bill.
WH told them that they would withhold support for the bipartisan bill unless they got a commitment from Manchin/Sinema to support the AJP/AFP reconciliation bill.
WH was willing to go home empty handed if push came to shove b/c the ARP has provided a big enough boost for the economy and a cushion for the mid terms.
WH called Manchin’s and Sinema’s bluff. They didn’t want to go home empty handed.
Pelosi then came in and put the golden handcuffs on both of them. She told them that the House will not take up the bipartisan infra bill unless they voted to pass the reconciliation bill concurrently.
Pelosi basically seized power from McConnell, Manchin and Sinema. She has the veto right. If no reconciliation bill comes out of the Senate, the House won’t take up anything. Again, Dems were willing to go home empty handed. Manchin/Sinema blinked. They can’t afford to go home empty handed.
McConnell also made a big time error opposing the 1/6 Commission. It made Manchin and Sinema look like dopes (fittingly). It severely weakened them in the caucus and they had no standing to tank the infra talks. Biden used that leverage to hook them into the reconciliation bill and get rid of poison pills in the infra bill. Pelosi finished it off.
Well done, Dems.
So they have a bipartisan bill on infrastructure. The supposed holy grail of the Senate moderates. Bipartisanship, as I understand it, is more important to some Senators than anything else in this country. When this is shot down will Manchin and the Valley Girl vote to kill the filibuster in order to pass the bipartisan bill they worked so hard to craft?
I laughed at my own question as they surely will not vote to do anything on the filibuster.
My fear is Sinema and Manchin will run around saying “Bipartisanship” works and do nothing about all the other GOP obstruction. I’ll add, I reserve final judgement on this “Bipartisan” deal until I see the details. The last 2 were jokes.
Manchin and Sinema are not that smart, but they can still create mischief, see my post below.
This bipartisan deal is just window dressing. The real deal is the reconciliation bill. The bipartisan deal will not be taken up in the House unless there is a reconciliation deal paired with it.
Just today, after giving Republicans every opportunity, Speaker Pelosi reluctantly and undoubtedly with great sorrow announced a select committee to investigate the events of 1/6.
It seems, hopefully, we’re following a similar pattern with regards to the filibuster and voting rights. We’ve pretty much exhausted every avenue with Republicans so it’s time for a less genteel approach.
It’s infuriating, but apparently the wise men of Washington insist Democrats must try repeatedly to bring Republicans on board before they’re allowed to proceed. Only if Republicans were held to the same standard.
They can’t say it works, if this bill is NOT passed. And it likely won’t be.
That’s the bottom line.
WH was willing to go home empty handed if push came to shove b/c the ARP has provided a big enough boost for the economy and a cushion for the mid terms.
It’s a big plus for Biden and Democrats as we go to the mid-terms. Now if the Democrats can hold the House and gain at least one seat in the Senate, they can then blowup the filibuster and be in position to get done what they can’t get done today.
Funny thing is, McConnell gets nothing out of this. In fact, he may become vulnerable - if this happens.
Here is the part I dont get. Why would republicans support this infrastructure bill when they know Democrats are just going to do a reconciliation bill that fills in all the gaps that they pushed to leave out? It doesn’t really make any sense.