I think this is just too rich for the White House’s blood. But I can’t imagine the ‘moderates’ and others behind them haven’t had this thought. Let’s assume the “BIF” gets passed on Thursday. When does the President sign it? It’s not law until he signs it. And he can wait a while. I believe he has ten days excluding Sundays.
As I said, I think this is just far more aggressive than that team rolls. For them, it’s almost like minting the trillion dollar platinum coin. But the leverage is there until he signs it.
And here’s the other part of this. Let’s say that kind of ploy is just way more than the President is up for. Even if you assume that’s the farthest thing from their collective minds, are they really going to schedule a signing ceremony while the recon bill is still hanging in the balance? Like Friday? That strikes me as pretty awkward. Who shows up? Manchin, Sinema and McConnell? Such a signing ceremony would be like pouring tacks on the path to getting the reconciliation bill agreed on.
Of course, you don’t have to have a signing ceremony. Biden can just sign it in the office off the Oval. But even without a ceremony just the act of signing it doesn’t help.
So again, if it passes Thursday, when does Biden sign the bipartisan mini-bill?
