Senate advances Biden's $1T infrastructure bill in rare Saturday session

[dan_bgblue]

From everything I have been able to read, the group of 9 is solid in their voting intents. They think their home town supporters will accept the current Senate infrastructure bill, but will try and vote them out office if they support the potential tax and spend bill from the house that Nancy wants to ram thru under reconciliation. Nancy has a real problem with the group of 9 on one side and the squad on the other who is demanding that both bills are voted up or down together. she knows she has roughly 200 yes votes from the sheep, but that is not enough, and if the 9 do not vote her way that leaves 209, or if the squad and friends do not vote her way that leaves about 200 sheep votes.

I know we can not believe any thing sleepy says, but he has been quoted several times that he would not sign separate bills, claiming they both had to arrive on his desk together to get his signature.

100% of the other side of the aisle will vote no, so she is up a creek and flailing about unless she can keep 100% of the vote in her favor.

[bigsky]

Afghanistan surrender as a distraction from overthrowing the country.

[dan_bgblue]

Looks like a sleight of hand move by the leaders will get the voting to move ahead.

Linkage

[dan_bgblue]

It is complicated I tell you, complicated

[dan_bgblue]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-d...d=hp_lead_pos1

[KeithKSR]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-d...d=hp_lead_pos1

That vote is similar to the one the Senate took earlier. Both houses will have to pass whatever comes out of reconciliation, and that is where the House moderate Dems and both Sinema and Manchin in the Senate can stop the bill in its tracks.

[dan_bgblue]

For what it is worth, the bipartisan vote on the infrastructure bill in the senate may have done what the senators hoped it would, and that is to slow down Bernie and Nancy's 3.5 trillion locomotive in the house. If it works, then Mitch deserves a positive nod for his leadership. imo

If the witch can force a winning vote on infrastructure in the house, their crazy wish list is likely to be stalled until they possibly take it up again after the mid term elections. JMHO If she can not push a positive vote thru then the house is gonna be a complete cluster while they are all scrambling for votes in a mid term election with a failing leader in the white house and a retiring leader with the gavel in the house.

Linkage

[KeithKSR]

For what it is worth, the bipartisan vote on the infrastructure bill in the senate may have done what the senators hoped it would, and that is to slow down Bernie and Nancy's 3.5 trillion locomotive in the house. If it works, then Mitch deserves a positive nod for his leadership. imo

If the witch can force a winning vote on infrastructure in the house, their crazy wish list is likely to be stalled until they possibly take it up again after the mid term elections. JMHO If she can not push a positive vote thru then the house is gonna be a complete cluster while they are all scrambling for votes in a mid term election with a failing leader in the white house and a retiring leader with the gavel in the house.

Linkage

Bernie has threatened to blow up the original infrastructure bill if the reconciliation package isn’t passed by the House first. The Dems have no working margin and passing either bill now looks iffy.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics...-spending-bill

[dan_bgblue]

JMHO If she can not push a positive vote thru then the house is gonna be a complete cluster while they are all scrambling for votes in a mid term election with a failing leader in the white house and a retiring leader with the gavel in the house.

If She can't get the infrastructure bill signed then the war over the 3.5 + trillion dollar bill to be rammed thru is political suicide for many members of the house. No one had the opportunity to fully read and analyze the Obama Care bill, and if she and Bernie have their way, no one will have a chance to read and understand all the ramifications of all sections of the 2,000 plus pages of the build back better bill and the vote timing will be used as a hostage in the staring contest over the vote on increasing the Debt Ceiling.

[dan_bgblue]

The lead broom rider blinked so hard her fake eyelashes fell off.

[CitizenBBN]

The lead broom rider blinked so hard her fake eyelashes fell off.

She can fly home for the weekend on a private jet, sit in front of her $50,000 refrigerator/freezers and eat some $30/gallon ice cream. She'll feel better in no time.

She doesn't even have to worry about someone stealing stuff from her car living in San Fran b/c she's got private security and a gated property.

[KeithKSR]

McConnell and Manchin both urging Pelosi and Schumer to use reconciliation on the debt ceiling. I believe that would negate the reconciliation from being used again during the current Congress.

[dan_bgblue]

Reconciliation Bill, as We Know It, Is Dead, Thanks To Senators Manchin, McConnell — and Schumer

This is the opinion of a scribe for the New York Sun, and is one I agree with.

McConnell, Manchin, and Sinema effectively killed it in the near term, and it is going to have one heck of a hard time being regenerated in it's current form. jmho

Linkage
Linkage

Wall Street Journal report

WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats were poised to accept a GOP proposal to defer the showdown over the debt ceiling until later this year, lawmakers said, as administration officials and corporate executives issued dire warnings about the dangers of a possible government default.

The proposal would extend the debt ceiling into December, provided that Democrats affix a dollar amount to the debt level. A deal could pave the way for a procedural vote in the Senate soon, to be followed by final passage sometime later this week. The House will still have to pass the legislation, which is expected to be signed into law by President Biden.

[dan_bgblue]

I am a bit disappointed at last night's vote in the Senate, but I have not thought it thru to the end. If the senate Republicans that voted for the increase without forcing the Dems to go it alone thought that the house radicals would stand pat and let the barn burn down, then they did the right thing by forcing them to put the reconciliation budget together with all their Christmas bows and ribbons in it so they can go thru it line by line and vote up or down then last night's action gave them ample opportunity to get their budget bill put together without shutting the government down.

That is one scenario, and I can honestly see Bernie and the squad letting the borrowing power evaporate to prove their point. Still a long way to go on this one. I think Mitch and company scared the pants off of Schumer so that is one positive.

Linkage

[CitizenBBN]

People want Mitch or the GOP to stand firm, but I remind them that the GOP doesn't control the media, so they don't control the message, and every other time we've shut down the government it has been a negative, not a positive in votes.

Most in the middle want less rancor, and right now Biden is being seen as not delivering on the "unity" part of his campaign, which is why his approval among independents, who won him the office, is in near free fall. They wanted him to be a moderate, to find compromises, and he's just the opposite. He's more extreme and less interested in compromise than Obama.

This is far from over, and honestly the longer the GOP can drag out these moves by the progressive left, i.e. closer to actual elections so people remember them better, all the better.

Here's where I think Mitch is at on this: the polling indicates the Democrats are hanging themselves. Their policies are seen as too extreme and divisive. There's no reason to jump in and give the media a way to blame the GOP and save the Democrats from themselves. Just stand back and let them shoot themselves in the mid-term foot.

The problem is that, beyond politics, the "infrastructure" bill, which is like calling a strip club a "restaurant" b/c they serve peanuts, has about 10,000 really bad ideas in it, all of which will hurt this country. There's only so much the GOP can do to stop it however. The next best thing is to cash in on it enough to win back both houses of Congress and maybe reverse some of it.

But in the end I'm moving, b/c any country with people dumb enough to elect people like AOC isn't worth worrying about too much.

[dan_bgblue]

WSJ Opinion Piece

It talks about the points already made here, but does it in a more officious manner.

[dan_bgblue]

The Constitution Requires Congress to Set a Debt Limit
Lawmakers can’t delegate the power to borrow money any more than they let the Treasury change tax rates.


Kudos to the WSJ for this bit of info

[CitizenBBN]

Don't underestimate McConnell.

yes seniority plays a big role in leadership positions, and McConnell is the most senior GOP Senator, but that's not the whole story. He's a master at Senate rules and the chess came of Washington.

I'll be interested to see what happens in December. McConnell is trying his best to get the media off the GOP, and may have limited effect, b/c he's now sent a public letter to Biden saying the Dems have 3 months to raise the debt limit on their own. Now when the GOP doesn't vote for it they have some defense. It wont' work with the propagandists who are now running CNN/ABC/CBS/NBC/etc. but it will help.

The best hope for the GOP is to make the Dems own this radical agenda, and hang it on them in the mid-terms and then again in 3 years.

Biden is more and more being seen correctly as the Emperor in his underwear telling everyone he has grand robes. Even the liberal media is now aware of the problem, and are increasingly doing less to hide him. When the election rolls around they'll close ranks, but even they now know Biden is not really the President and is incapable of performing the most basic act of the office in answering questions.

The goal of the GOP is to not step in and give the media and Dems a way to get out of owning what they are doing, and not doing. let them bicker internally and fight it out, and stay out of the way.

[CitizenBBN]

Edit: I looked, and Mitch is 2nd most senior GOP senator, behind Grassley.

Telling b/c Grassley is a committee ranking member, as is Shelby, who is next in line, but neither of them are senior leadership. Mitch is there b/c he's really good at the rules game of the Senate.

We'll see how we'll he's played this game come December.

And remember, he's playing without many cards. they are the minority. At the end of the day he has to work more with Manchin than anyone else to hold the line.

[dan_bgblue]

So far I think his gamesmanship has been masterful. He would have destroyed some built up good will, in the public sphere, had he pushed the issue any further allowing Schumer to pontificate and blame everything, including the murder of JFK on the current group of Republicans. For the next 45 days, the Dems will be working furiously to put together a trimmed down version of the Biden fantasy plan, and the brain trust of the Dem party will be leading them over the cliff.

[dan_bgblue]

Biden left the "framework" for his new 1,9 trillion BBB spending spree with the house this morning before jetting off to Glasgow in the UK, for some kind of summit of world leaders. As you might imagine, there is dissent among the "progressives" over the list of beneficiaries of the free money and those that will be left out. They also disagree on whether to vote on the Senate approved "shovel ready" infrastructure bill that will keep the, already approved, Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act from dying on the vine if the infrastructure bill is not passed.

Oh yeah, the congress will have to choose whether to vote on Brandon's "Framework" with no real knowledge of what the actual language will be and what the OMB numbers will look like once they get done with their number crunching of the actual bill language is complete. Yeah, they are doing it again. You have to approve the bill and all that entails before you get to read the language of the bill, only this time the bill has not even been written.

You go Brandon

[CitizenBBN]

I think the way Congress works now we need to eliminate "representative government", "democracy" and several other descriptors from Wiki pages describing the US system of government. You can't have representation when your representatives vote for things that aren't even things yet, and about which they have no idea.

we could do that now via internet ourselves without a Congress.

[KeithKSR]

I believe McConnell is trying to back the Dems into a corner that forces them to use reconciliation to set the debt limit, which in turn should keep it from being used for the infrastructure bill. Reconciliation is supposed to only be used once annually, and the Dems have already used it for 2021 and the infrastructure plan would be the one use 2022, unless they have to burn it for the debt limit. They cannot use the 2023 reconciliation until the next Congress is in session in January 2023.

[dan_bgblue]

And the parliamentarian of the Senate must agree that each bill put forward in the "reconciliation budget" fits into the framework of the procedure and if it does not then that bill is thrown out of the proposed spending package.

[dan_bgblue]

A Jerry-Rigged Budget ‘Framework’
The $1.75 trillion cost is phony, but the social and fiscal damage are real.

Excellent article from the Wall Street Journal

[Doc]

In yet another example of the hypocrisy of politics:

Parents speaking up at school board meeting are labelled "domestic terrorists" for harassing public officials yet harrass a sitting senator in the bathroom, airport, etc is fine, and clearly different for some reason. But ruining a wedding, COME ON, MAN!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ari...esters-wedding

This because she dared to show an inkling of fiscal responsibility. In my book she is still a tax and spend democrat. On the likeabity scale, she is just ahead of Mitch McConnell. But at least she has the courage to do what she thinks is right rather than being a sheep following the herder

[bigsky]

Pelosi called a vote this am on a new version 2000 pages?

[KeithKSR]

Pelosi called a vote this am on a new version 2000 pages?

I don’t think they would be voting on it if not for the progressives pushing for a vote. It may not have the votes to pass the House.

[bigsky]

She won’t put it on the floor without the votes.

[KeithKSR]

She won’t put it on the floor without the votes.

That’s what I would think, but the progressives are pushing for a vote on it. It looks like it may be a one or two vote margin either way.