When more than a dozen House Republicans helped Democrats secure $550 billion in new infrastructure spending in early November, it angered many conservatives.
“13 Republicans swooped in to rescue Pelosi, provide Biden with the biggest victory of his presidency, and put the rest of his reckless agenda on a glide path to passage in the House,” National Review’s Phil Klein groused at the time. “[BIF’s passage will] help grease the wheels for the passage of the larger multi-trillion welfare bill that will expand Medicare and Obamacare, initiate a federal takeover of preschool and child care, and impose economically devastating tax increases on individuals and businesses.”
But calmly looking beyond knee-jerk emotion and even hypocrisy, perhaps House and Senate Republicans who supported BIF did so specifically because they presumed its passage would hinder Democrats’ ability to move forward with Build Back Better’s (BBB) socialist goals.
By accommodating physical infrastructure, these Republicans successfully decoupled the smaller, more popular bill from the profligate and wholly partisan BBB. This also allowed moderate Democrats, who sought the infrastructure deal, to avoid stomaching BBB’s absurd provisions.
The idea that one bill would pave the way for the other — as many in talk radio and cable news ranted — never made sense; otherwise, Democrats would not have split the bills up in the first place.
As the year closes with Democrats’ agenda stifled, those much-maligned Republicans appear sentient.
Congress has funded the government, raised the debt limit, passed the National Defense Authorization Act, and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in recent weeks, yet progress on BBB has been nonexistent, despite hapless Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer setting a Christmas deadline to get it to President Joe Biden’s desk. In an evenly-divided Senate, it takes only one defection to tank a radical bill.
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Party leaders have tried, without success, to assuage Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, looking for ways to mitigate their concerns about the size and scope of the bill, without scaling it so far back as to initiate a progressive revolt.
On Thursday, Biden finally conceded that his BBB will not be passed any time soon.
“I believe that [Sen. Manchin and I] will bridge our differences and advance the Build Back Better plan, even in the face of fierce Republican opposition,” the president said. “My team and I are having ongoing discussions with Senator Manchin; that work will continue next week. It takes time to finalize these agreements, prepare the legislative changes, and finish all the parliamentary and procedural steps needed to enable a Senate vote.”
With the hopes of gaining Manchin’s support, Democrats begrudgingly shrunk their mammoth social-spending bill. The White House removed a 12-week paid family leave provision, and the legislation’s price tag has decreased from $3.5 trillion to about $1.8 trillion.
A rare Democrat worried about soaring inflation, Manchin also wisely prefers that the plan be fully paid for, and probably does not buy the lies of Biden.
Meanwhile, the petulant left lacks any persuasive abilities, so they lash out with hatred and condescension.
Why is @Sen_JoeManchin working so hard against the interests of West Virginians? Does he believe he will survive?https://t.co/F6QDeXPOcw
— 𝐓𝐢𝐦🇺🇸🆒 ®™️ (@MstrKnowItAll) December 17, 2021
The stunning mediocrity of Joe Manchin has been on full display this week as he blames everyone from the parliamentarian to @ArthurDelaneyHP for his own wildly unpopular political decisions.
It's like SIR, take some responsibility for your actions!
— Pablo Manríquez (@PabloReports) December 17, 2021
I grew up in WV. I will tell you why Manchin is doing what he is doing. WV is among the poorest, uneducated & jobless states that rely on SNAP the most yet Manchin is fighting against every benefit available to WV including the child tax credit. Manchin is for Sen_JoeManchin.
— Robin Strong (@1strongrobin) December 17, 2021
They clearly still do not realize he’s doing what’s best for America and his state — on various fronts.
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