Unless @sniffit manages to set the cookies on fire. That’ll help, somehow, I guess.
Chocolate chip flambé, yummy.
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Busy day yesterday. Here’s what’s going on as best as I can tell:
- Biden and Manchin have been negotiating for the past 2-3 days. Manchin has warmed to the idea of means testing the BBB bill.
- Means testing allows Biden to drop the top line spending price tag significantly without sacrificing any of his priorities. It also bridges the gap between Manchin’s top line revenue number ($1.5T) and the 3.5T top line in the current bill. There’s also a rumor that Manchin would be ok with going to $2T in top line tax revenue. That would make the bill a 1.5T-2T tax for about 2.5T in spending. It’s much easier to close a 500 B gap with dynamic scoring, user fees, financing mechanisms, deferred expenditures etc. than a 2T gap.
- Biden feels that he’s on a good path with Manchin. Manchin wants Biden to push to hold the infra vote on Thursday with the assurance that he will get to a top line number and we will have reconciliation.
- Biden has agreed and has told Pelosi to hold the infra bill vote as scheduled. Biden feels he has rekindled a spirit of good faith and partnership with Manchin and feels that he is on a path to a deal.
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Yep. The proposed map that the Texas Senate put out yesterday is necessarily bad, but it’s no worse than the current one. It only puts one current (D) district in play for the other side, and I would wager that they’re wrong in thinking Trump’s superfans in South Texas might give a shit about anything other than Trump. Meanwhile, they’re watering down around 3-5 current Republican districts that could get surprisingly competitive in a good year, especially toward the latter end of the decade. It’s mostly an incumbent-protection racket, not an aggressive effort to collect more seats.
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Yes, I heard those two also. They seem to know what they’re talking about – seem to know more inside baseball.
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A subtle factor impacting the negotiations, in my view, is the fact that it’s becoming clearer that Dems will have a better Congressional map from redistricting than the one they faced in '20. GOP has released maps for Indiana, Texas and Georgia and there are no clear net gains for the GOP. If they can’t add seats in those states where are they going to add them? Dems just passed a 5-1 map in Oregon and will gain seats in California, Illinois, New York, Michigan, Maryland, Colorado and many other states. They will even gain seats in Ohio. GOP is also losing a seat in WV.
With that as a backdrop, the Dems know that if they just don’t screw up this budget stuff they will be in very good shape in '22 as vaccination rates climb, a kids vaxx is on the way, and Delta is beginning its decline. All that is needed is trust among the caucus. That’s what Biden has been working on with Manchin and he feels sufficient progress is being made that he can take the ‘W’ on the bipartisan infra bill and feel confident that reconciliation will pass.
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Exactly - in my opinion, McCarthy is not playing it smart. He should pass the bipartisan bill - and can claim it is a GOP bill based on the votes, when the Democratic progressive caucus votes “no”. But, TFG doesn’t like the bill (likely for ego reasons), so McCarthy is blowing an opportunity.
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Yes, but I think we’ve got this.
Often it seems things go this way when we are in protracted negotiations and progress seems to be slow in coming — people get anxious, the media starts glooming and dooming, and everyone is on edge. And then things seem to suddenly happen
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One thing I have found interesting is that the progressives seem to be bear hugging the Biden agenda and defending it against what they regard as centrist attempts to water it down.
Considering that the progressives did not seem enamored with Biden last year, this is a positive development if it holds up. The moderate support of Biden and the Democrats’ agenda seems more reliable and steady
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Nice info, thanks, but “Dems in disarray” or “Biden failing” are much easier stories for lazy, hollow members of our “press corps”. WaPo has been running this drivel for weeks now.
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I needed this. Messaging is important and if Obama can help, I am all for it. Heads-up Progressives, tell us what you are fighting for rather than allow the media to frame it as fighting against fellow Dems.
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Because Qevin is not smart.
He’s a wonderful aid to the House Democrats as a result.
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That is a concentrated burst of toxic femininity right there.
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Pelosi Subtly Jabs At Centrists. It’s the Gottheimer
Gotterdammerung.
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The Republicans cannot be trusted to do anything good. They have no humanity, no compassion, nothing. When the most compassionate they’ve got is Liz Cheney, you got problems.
They will not help the Democrats accomplish anything good for this nation or this planet.
Just don’t forget that folks, they are greedy, selfish, short sighted, jerks.
I just hope that if after the smoke clears, and hoping we still have a democracy, that Nancy buries those shits like Peters in the basement and strips them of any committee chairs they might have, and take them off of the committees they like and put them on the snack basket committee and cleaning toilets. Not a committee, just cleaning toilets.
Edited for correct Cheney.
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I want to believe this, but what I said about Scott Peters et al still stands, those poisonous shjits need a good lancing to drain the pus they represent.
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If the Dems had a deeply embedded mole inside the present GOP, whose mission it was to harm the Republican agenda at every turn with short-sighted foolish moves, that mole could not possibly do a better job than ol’ Kev-Boy.
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So I guess I don’t understand why the Democrats don’t just stop everything and focus solely on the debt limit issue. Zero in on GOP recalcitrance, as a way of forcing McConnell off this ledge. Right now, there are so many different things going on he can hide in mucky water. Clear it up. Force everyone’s attention to just that. Do nothing else. That way, it’s a lot clearer if McConnell tanks the world economy that he’s the one that did it. Forget all the 3d chess maneuvers involving this being leverage for that inside the dem caucus. Work instead on getting one big issue done.
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But remember tx, these are republicans, this is their starting point, they seem to like to go for their idea of better, which is always worse than where they started!
Republicans, hunh, what are they good for?
Ab so lutely nothin! Say it again!
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Why does Sinema always dress like a 13-year-old in the 80s???
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Goobers look to blow it all up and blame the dems when it is obviously in their lap.
@left_in_washington_state, I think Sinema is 13 yrs old.
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