QOTD -- Snatching Defeat?

 

"Democratic leaders had linked the two: The infrastructure bill would pass only when the larger reconciliation package, which will take weeks or months to write, was ready for a vote. This way, the centrists, who want the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, would have a stake in the passage of the reconciliation package, which Democratic liberals and progressives want. As long as both are still on the table, each side has something big to lose if they fail to advance. The centrists are trying to break this linkage, and in so doing give themselves all the leverage in the upcoming reconciliation bill negotiations.

"Their gambit is unlikely to work; far more than nine House progressives have pledged to reject the $1 trillion infrastructure plan until the reconciliation bill is ready. If the centrists got their immediate vote on the infrastructure bill, it would likely fail. That would be a disaster for the nation, which needs both investment in roads and rails and assurance that the political system can still sometimes work. Centrists’ energy would be far better spent negotiating the reconciliation package than on insisting that progressives unilaterally disarm." -- the Washington Post editorial board, explaining the tactics and the stakes involved, should the 9 "centrist" Democrats succeed in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by bollixing up the legislative process for passing the infrastructure plan and reconciliation bill.  The 9 are Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, Filemon Vela, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California and Kurt Schrader of Oregon.  If any of them is your congressperson and you haven't already contacted them to get on board with Speaker Pelosi, now is the time to do it.

BONUS:  Here's how one progressive group is confronting them --

NEW: Progressives (@WorkingFamilies, @IndivisibleTeam, @sunrisemvmt, and Organize For Justice) launch six figure ad-buy targeting nine obstructionist Democrats blocking Biden infrastructure deal pic.twitter.com/hV8TIiNlox

— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) August 23, 2021

 

 

QOTD -- Time For Reconciliation

 

"The most important thing is, at the end of the day, what we pass has to embrace that bold vision that President Biden put forward in both the American Jobs Plan and the American Family Plan. 

"And even if somehow this bipartisan agreement were to work out, it would not begin to cover and match that vision. So no matter what, we need to be working right now on that reconciliation package and bringing everyone on board."  -- our Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on the need to move forward without Republican support (which was never coming) on the Biden agenda, last night on CNN.  What that means is that Senate Dems are going to have to agree on a package that gets all 50 Dem Senators (mostly Manchin again) to agree on scope and funding, which further means it will be less than what the Biden Administration originally proposed.