It’s pretty clearly a political win for Dems (assuming it passes the House at some point), and it seems like a good bill with half a trillion dollars of new spending on public goods. I disagree that it passing makes it less likely to get a reconciliation bill. AOC and co have navigated their end skillfully, and now Manchin and Sinema will have their egos wrapped up in ensuring their bill gets through. I kinda doubt 3.5 trillion will be the final number, but they’ll probably get some number in the trillions, Manchin will get to say he did the bipartisan and reined in the radical left, and Americans will get trillions of dollars worth of roads, bridges, childcare, etc. Decent deal.
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Honestly wondering if this bill passing is +EV here.
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If you think clean water is cool
- Clean drinking water: The deal would spend $55 billion on clean water infrastructure, particularly to eliminate lead pipes and other dangerous chemicals in today’s service lines.
Also, $66 billion on rail, and trains are just objectively cool. I would’ve been 100% on board for the Springfield monorail.
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Moneybagg Joe is definitely better than Clinton. Is he on track to be better than Obama?
Pandemic stimulus and infrastructure both seem smaller and less good than the bill that stopped the financial collapse and Obamacare, respectively. Resurrecting voting rights might push Joe into the realm of Obama’s first term, maybe better on the whole if he keeps winding down foreign entanglements.
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I realize these are massive “ifs,” but if Biden gets anything near a $3.5T reconciliation bill through and somehow passes a real voting rights bill that deals with gerrymandering and nullifies the “steal elections via state legislatures” strategy, I will happily eat my words and say he’s the best president of my lifetime, probably since FDR. There’s a decent argument that he’s doing what we’ve long said democrats should do - say they’re moderate then govern as liberals, without being baited into culture war bullshit.
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Every time the GOP staff/legislators tell the media they feel gaslighted by the Biden people I become momentarily hopeful. It’s about time someone on our side practiced the dark arts in some capacity. I’d really like to see a lot less good faith dealing with the GOP honestly. It’s time to treat them the way they treat other people.
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yes
Is Diane Feinstein actually participating in all these late night Senate sessions? She’s 900 fucking years old with severe dementia. Has the world just agreed her staff can vote for her? Seems highly unlikely she is an informed participant in the currently happening vote-a-rama.
In the room where it happened, someone must have credibly threatened that Ds had the votes to get rid of the filibuster and go whole hog if McConnell didn’t get on board with Infrastructure Week. Most logical explanation, imo.
Manchin crossed over to attach or continue or whatever the Hyde the amendment.
The bill is mostly shit and designed to dupe people into the illusion that we are headed towards progress or something good. So basically the same as the last 40 years of US politics.
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There is definitely a lot of this. Its fine with absolutely no context but, uh, the planet is on fire and the Rs are actively rigging future elections.
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Also to vote for some amendment described as “Cotton Amdt. No. 3680; To establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to prohibiting the teaching of critical race theory in prekindergarten programs and elementary and secondary schools.” There’s gonna be a non-trivial amount of bad shit in this 2ish trillion dollar package assuming it makes it all the way to the end.
It will be something stupid like this that will torpedo the bill(s). No way will the progressives leave it in the house version.
Yeah this is the first time the progressives have really had leverage so it will be interesting to see how they use it. Cinema, Manchin and the undercover republican lites badly want that bi-partisan bill. They will let them cut some stuff, but there will be a line.
I feel like this is all just setting me up to get my hopes up and be even more disappointed. It’s like Lucy set the football on a tee and is like, look, I’m not even holding it! But she swapped the football with one made of paper. This metaphor is rough, but you get what I’m saying.
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Is there a new theory on how voting rights can actually pass?
Of course not.