The House and Senate are finally both back in session, kicking off a tumultuous period when Democrats try to defend their legislative agenda from obstructive Republicans, institutional obstacles and themselves.
One of the biggest looming (and completely artificial) deadlines comes next Monday — the date when rebelling House moderates pushed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to bring the bipartisan bill to the floor. House progressives warn that they will kill the bipartisan bill if the Senate hasn’t yet passed a robust reconciliation package, something which seems unlikely to happen by the moderates’ deadline.
Over in the Senate, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is also gleefully threatening to derail the twinned process. He’s insisting that the reconciliation package be shrunk, and be held for some indeterminate amount of time. President Joe Biden met with him, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), personally last week.
And those are just the problems Democrats are causing themselves. Republicans are refusing to help raise the debt ceiling, playing political chicken with a global economic catastrophe — all while chiding Democrats about their irresponsibility. Meanwhile, the parliamentarian is already making cuts to the reconciliation package. Buckle up.
The House and Senate are finally both back in session, kicking off a tumultuous period when Democrats try to defend their legislative agenda from obstructive Republicans, institutional obstacles and themselves.
One of the biggest looming (and completely artificial) deadlines comes next Monday — the date when rebelling House moderates pushed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to bring the bipartisan bill to the floor. House progressives warn that they will kill the bipartisan bill if the Senate hasn’t yet passed a robust reconciliation package, something which seems unlikely to happen by the moderates’ deadline.
Over in the Senate, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is also gleefully threatening to derail the twinned process. He’s insisting that the reconciliation package be shrunk, and be held for some indeterminate amount of time. President Joe Biden met with him, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), personally last week.
And those are just the problems Democrats are causing themselves. Republicans are refusing to help raise the debt ceiling, playing political chicken with a global economic catastrophe — all while chiding Democrats about their irresponsibility. Meanwhile, the parliamentarian is already making cuts to the reconciliation package. Buckle up.
So basically, kindergarten is back in session?
From Josh’s EdBlog post:
In short: Passing the bipartisan bill through the Senate first was a mistake.
Edit: Before the reconciliation bill, I mean.
We can all console ourselves the Sun will eventually flare outward in its dying stage, enveloping all the planets and rendering these various concerns moot.
Not at all. Because Nancy knows how to play hardball. So she’s just not letting it come up without the accompanying reconciliation bill.
Had the House gone first and passed both, there would be zero pressure on the Senate to pass both, since they could play Lucy and take the ball away after passing the “bipartisan” one.
Sorry, I meant passing the bipartisan bill through the Senate before the reconciliation bill was a mistake. At a minimum, both bills should have been brought to a vote in the same session.