Let’s go!
Nancy “the Magician” Pelosi has struck again, and Joe Biden’s presidency has been rescued from the brink. In a 220-212 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives just adopted a budget reconciliation plan that will do more to transform this country than anything since The New Deal.
House Democrats on Tuesday approved a roughly $3.5 trillion budget that could enable sweeping changes to the nation’s healthcare, education and tax laws, overcoming internal divisions in a debate that could foreshadow even tougher battles still to come.
The 220-212 vote came after days of delays as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) scrambled to stave off a revolt from her party’s moderate-leaning lawmakers. With the frenzy resolved, the chamber averted what would have been a political embarrassment to take the next step in enacting President Biden’s broader economic agenda.
She’s smarter than I am. I hadn’t considered that she could promise to hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill before October but was under no obligation to reconcile it with the Senate’s version or to send it along to the White House before she’s good and ready.
Call it keeping a promise without keeping a promise. It allows the moderate Democrats to crow that they won big concessions but still satisfies the progressives’ demand that the larger $3.5 trillion dollar spending package gets first dibs on enactment.
The most important thing is that the House committees with jurisdiction can begin writing bills on healthcare, education, taxes, climate, and even more infrastructure with the knowledge that it can all pass through the Senate if the Democrats remain united. The filibuster is no longer an obstacle.
The top-line $3.5 trillion number will probably get trimmed down in a concession to both House centrists and some skittish Democratic senators–especially Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Some of the taxes might not ultimately fly either, but that’s all for later negotiation.
This is going to get done. Biden will go down as one of the most progressively transformative and consequential presidents in our country’s history, and it’s thanks to Pelosi finding a way to break the impasse in her caucus.
You should be excited!
She is the preeminent politician of our age
However, if one reads the mainstream press, the Dems are still in disarray, and the Biden administration is doomed. I’m sure the Sunday shows are already working round the clock to find Republicans to tell us that very thing. Not to mention a few Dems, too, who will signal their displeasure at all these crazy machinations by Pelosi. They simply cannot let the reality on the ground get in the way of a narrative which they have worked so hard to wedge into the national consciousness. It’s pretty pathetic, and as predictable as the sunrise.
Echoing what Maler already said, Pelosi will go down in history as one of the great Speakers/party leaders in the history of the House of Representatives.
Yay! No wonder they hate her.
This is a good reflection on how smart staff enable smart leaders. I’m impressed with how Nancy Smash! has gamed this out with her staff, and how hard they’re working to make sure Biden’s plans get passed.
Yes. I had this thought too. Of course, Pelosi gets the credit in the headlines, but she’s not alone. “Caesar defeated the Gauls. Did he not at least have a cook with him?”
I’m wondering how long it will take the media to actually figure out just how well things are going for Biden. Yes, despite what you see on TV things are going really well. In Afghanistan, in a week or two, or whatever the timeline is, Biden is most likely going to be able to make a speech in Primetime to the whole country proclaiming that he just oversaw the largest most successful military evacuation in the history of the world without a loss of a single American soldiers’ life (hopefully) and the 21-year war in Afghanistan is now officially over. Moreover, the FDA just gave their approval for Pfizer, meaning a stream of mandates are going to be coming down to get vaccinated, meaning Delta/COVID should start turning around soon. And, as stated above both infrastructure bills really look like they are going to happen.
So far, I have been delighted with Biden. What delights me most is watching the naysayers and doubters in the media step on rake after rake after rake.
This is very happy-making.