Elections have consequences. The American People in Nov. and again in Dec. 2020 selected a team to craft and pass a “New Deal for the 21st Century”. It is long overdue. It is time to move on to a better future.
I agree with you… and your Churchill quote! But I’d like to add a couple thoughts to expand on your observation.
Yesterday, Josh posted an editorial piece that the Big Democratic Reconciliation Bill (Big D) will probably be the last piece of progressive legislation for a decade. I wrote him a note that while that might be true, there was an even more critical point to be made.
That critical point is this: If the Democrats don’t retain the Congress in 2022, Big D will never be implemented. It will die. And Bipartisan Deal will be crippled.
There is not a single dollar in either one. Money will only come later from appropriations bills. These bills have appropriations directions for the next couple years. But if the Republicans take Congress, they will wrap dead fish in Big D, because that is all that Big D will be useful for. And Bipartisan Deal will be slowed to a crawl.
One would hope that the great commentariat - including at TPM - would know this, but apparently not, which is fatal. The Democrats will never be able to get their voters to the polls if their voters don’t know they must fight to save Big D, and the only way they can do that is by retaining the Congress in the mid-terms. I think almost everyone erroneously believes that once this Big D is passed - along with Bipartisan Deal - everything is set in stone. But. It. Is. Not.
If the Republicans take the Congress, Big D is dead and Bipartisan Deal is crippled, because a Republican Congress will never appropriate the necessary money.
I wrote to Josh assuming he wouldn’t read it, let alone respond. But hope springs eternal that he will address this fact in TPM.
I’m quite surprised that #moscowmitch is allowing this to pass. I suppose, as others have states, this will simply let them brag to their constituents. Sigh.
That drops us into the grueling Senate process called a vote-a-rama, which could continue for many hours as senators offer amendments to the resolution and Republicans take a stand against it.
Looking at the Senate’s work schedule, how much time they actually spend doing anything useful, and how much time they spend away from DC, I’m not sure I can call it “grueling”.
If nothing else, forcing filibusters to be in-person and on-the-floor would at least make them work for it.
My take on this is that Republicans knew all along that an infrastructure bill would pass and be very popular. This is a way for them to get in on the popularity while, at the same time, not take complete responsibility for the large sticker price of the entire infrastructure bill that will pass later by reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the Dems get to take credit for both the giant infrastructure bill (which will surely make things better for most everyone) as well as bipartisanship. It’s a perfect win win for both parties and I think a lot of Republican Senators were happy to stick their thumbs in Trump’s eye.
If we can get these two Infrastrucure Bills into Law, as well as a competent and comprehensive Voting Rights Bill, we will all have a different collective mentality.
Am I wrong to take schadenfreude in the fact that Mitch McConnell continues to hold elected office while Donnie Two Impeachments is spewing paper tweets from a golf course in New Jersey?
It seems wrong, but that’s how I am honestly feeling.
Trump reminds us he is a complete asshole, totally self-centered, and indifferent to the urgent needs of the country. But then again, we already knew that…