Yesterday everyone voted-- no abstentions or absentees. Every single Democrat voted yes, including the fulminating right-wingers (like Gottheimer, Cuellar and Schrader) and every single Republican-- including your make-believe "moderates" (like Upton, Meijer, Katko and Fitzpatrick)-- voted against a path forward for the most consequential legislation for American families since, depending on how you calculate consequential, the '30s or '60s. It passed 220-212... twice.
There's still plenty that can go wrong and it wouldn't surprise me at all if Manchin and Sinema are planning to stall the bill into October, forcing Pelosi's hand in terms of her deal with the corrupt and treacherous Blue Dogs. Pelosi granted them a date certain (Sept 27) for the inadequate, conservative "hard" infrastructure bill, with the intent of voting on that on the $3.5 trillion "soft" infrastructure and family bill simultaneously. That's where I expect Manchin and Sinema to throw a wrench into the works. And, by the way, here's the bribe from Republican donors to Cuellar via No Labels.
Pelosi said that "On October 1, the authorizations for highways etc. will expire. And by Oct. 1, we will hope to have in place-- that is the plan to have in place-- the legislation for infrastructure that is bipartisan."
Actual progressives in the House, though, are sticking to their guns-- either both votes get to the floor simultaneously or they will tank the conservative bill. "If that is not the case, then they can't count on us," said AOC, speaking for enough members who could bury the bill.
Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was very clear where she stands (bolded lines were bolded by her office): "This transformative budget resolution is a win for the American people, putting us on the path toward enacting popular and urgent policy change for our communities, including universal child care, paid leave, aggressive climate action, Medicare expansion, affordable housing, and a roadmap to citizenship. Our position remains unchanged: we will work to first pass the Build Back Better reconciliation bill so we can deliver these once-in-a-generation, popular, and urgently needed investments to poor and working families, and then pass the infrastructure bill to invest in our roads, bridges, and waterways. As our members have made clear for three months, the two are integrally tied together, and we will only vote for the infrastructure bill after passing the reconciliation bill. We remain united with Congressional Leadership and President Biden in our mission to enact the entire Build Back Better agenda that voters put us in the majority to accomplish-- and every elected Democrat should do the same. Congress must now move urgently to send both pieces of this package to the President’s desk for his signature so we can transform people’s lives and livelihoods."
Gottheimer has been plotting with Sinema and Manchin about cutting the bill down significantly. According to a gaggle of Politico reporters, "Gottheimer’s group negotiated what they say are meaningful guarantees from leadership about the potential size and scope of the $3.5 trillion social spending plan. Moderates in both chambers, including influential Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), have signaled they are not supportive of such a large price tag." They report that the shit-eating haters of the working class-- who Politico always (every single say) refers to as "moderates" in order to give them credibility-- "sought a commitment from Pelosi and her leadership team that they would take part in extensive negotiations with Senate moderates, particularly Manchin and Sinema, before putting the party-line bill on the floor. Otherwise, they worried a House-passed bill could simply go ignored across the Capitol."
One senior member, who would rather not be identified, told me that Jim McGovern (D-MA) "will never forgive" Gottheimer and his conspirators. I asked him her why and she told me "McGovern is the Chair of the Rules Committee, so he has veto power over EVERYONE’S pet projects. He takes it personally when people grandstand this way. He is definitely not in the Appeasement Camp. He will look for ways to break their bones." I hope he breaks Schrader's and Cuellar's bones right after Gottheimer's.
Even though this video was recorded before the vote, Krystal Ball did a good job on her report on the context of happened:
Comments