The Biden Presidency

[The_Animus]

8 is nearly 1/3 of 50 now?
One of us must have made a mathematical error because in my book you have to get to 16 to have nearly a third of Democratic Senators.

You are correct. It should be 1/6. This is why I shouldn't post when tired.

Yes, even though 84% of the Democratic Senators vote yes, let's pretend that the 8 who joined the GOP in sinking the proposal represent the Dems more completely than the other 42. And let's blame the 42 for not getting it done rather than the 50 + 8 who actually prevented it from happening.

I mean we all know the 50 Republicans were never going to support that or any sort of governing for that matter. It's not the fault of those 42 but since they are part of the same party as the other 8 it tells us that the party, even when in power, can't get the job done. Whether it's fair or not it will affect votes.

 

[The_Animus]

If the minimum wage is part of the covid relief bill it can’t be passed as a reconciliation bill.

If we want that kind of progress we need to neutralize the filibuster first.

From what I read, getting rid of the filibuster is never going to happen because democrats don't have the votes needed. So reconciliation and executive orders are the only options to get anything done at the moment.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Yes, even though 84% of the Democratic Senators vote yes, let's pretend that the 8 who joined the GOP in sinking the proposal represent the Dems more completely than the other 42. And let's blame the 42 for not getting it done rather than the 50 + 8 who actually prevented it from happening.

So you concede that the "moderate" Democrats that undermined the party are the problem?

What should the party do about these Senators?

 

[Kestrel]

From what I read, getting rid of the filibuster is never going to happen because democrats don't have the votes needed. So reconciliation and executive orders are the only options to get anything done at the moment.

Changing Senate rules only requires a majority vote. What Democrats need to do is reform the filibuster in a way that makes it difficult to obstruct a bill forever. The Senator from WV can point to the empty shell and claim he kept the filibuster in place. Make it worth his while by dumping pork in his state. God knows they need something besides a dream that coal is coming back.

 

[Mumbles]

The 2022 and 2024 ad is easy to write:

Narrative: We Dems heard the complaints about profligate spending from fiscal conservatives and we took your concerns into account in our spending to alleviate the fiscal impacts of COVID. We fashioned out individual payments according to need rather than engaging in largess as Trump did, thus raising the debt by millions of dollars. We agree that being fiscally responsible is important but balanced that against the manifest needs of so many Americans. blah, blah ...

Gawd, nobody cares about that crap. That's the point. Here's an effective targeted ad:



We're the good guys, the GOP sucks, keep voting to make things better.

 

[dirtywick]

From what I read, getting rid of the filibuster is never going to happen because democrats don't have the votes needed. So reconciliation and executive orders are the only options to get anything done at the moment.

Never is a strong term. They don’t have the votes right now, but they’ve barely been the majority a month and they’ve been pretty rapidly moving items through, including a huge COVID relief package and some major voting rights laws in the House. No need to nuke the filibuster when you’re getting what you want.

Circumstance alone can change everything. It may come up closer to 2022 if they’re trying to push a major item through, like the voting rights through the senate , and it’s being stalled in hopes they lose congress in midterms for instance.

 

[Horatius]

Trump invoked the Defense Production Act but never used it. Biden invokes it and gets pharmaceutical competitors to work together. Biden originally promised enough vaccines for every American by the end of July and now have moved that target date up to the end of May.

This right here makes up for a lot of the complaining about Biden not being perfect.

Here in Canada, we've been having some difficulties getting the vaccines we ordered actually delivered. For the last year, we've been pretty smug about being better of than the US, but this proves something we've known all along: when the US finally gets its head out of its ass, it can get **** done faster and better than anyone else.

Sad that they had to waste a year doing stupid Trump **** instead.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

This right here makes up for a lot of the complaining about Biden not being perfect.

Here in Canada, we've been having some difficulties getting the vaccines we ordered actually delivered. For the last year, we've been pretty smug about being better of than the US, but this proves something we've known all along: when the US finally gets its head out of its ass, it can get **** done faster and better than anyone else.

Sad that they had to waste a year doing stupid Trump **** instead.

Canada has less than half the covid death rate of the US.

 

[The_Animus]

Changing Senate rules only requires a majority vote. What Democrats need to do is reform the filibuster in a way that makes it difficult to obstruct a bill forever. The Senator from WV can point to the empty shell and claim he kept the filibuster in place. Make it worth his while by dumping pork in his state. God knows they need something besides a dream that coal is coming back.

Interesting idea to change it rather than throw it out completely. Is someone in the senate proposing this route? What change is suggested?

 

[wareyin]

So you concede that the "moderate" Democrats that undermined the party are the problem?

What should the party do about these Senators?

Er, whut? You think Manchin et al is/are moderate?

Or was that a knee jerk "let's join with the Republican" dance that progressives who don't understand the situation keep doing in order to ensure they never, ever get what they say they want?

 

[wareyin]

You are correct. It should be 1/6. This is why I shouldn't post when tired.



I mean we all know the 50 Republicans were never going to support that or any sort of governing for that matter. It's not the fault of those 42 but since they are part of the same party as the other 8 it tells us that the party, even when in power, can't get the job done. Whether it's fair or not it will affect votes.

Sadly, yes, it will affect votes. Stupid people will vote for the party who lockstep blocked an increase in minimum wage to stick it to the Dems who "couldn't get it done" in the face of absolute opposition. That this ensures it won't be done for a generation or longer now will of course escape these self righteous but short sighted and dim witted voters.

 

[Horatius]

Canada has less than half the covid death rate of the US.

Yes, which is why we've been smug...You did see that part, yes?

But in terms of delivering the vaccine, the US has been mopping the floor with us - and that's all because of Biden's policies and efforts. That was my point.

 

[Aridas]

To poke at a couple things...

Texas PUC admits ripping off Texans during Electric Grid freeze and all but tells them to suck it up

Apparently, by about $16 Billion. Their reasoning, to me, sounds more like "it would be more work than we want to do to correct the errors, especially when we're the ones benefiting from the error."

Elsewhere -

Newsmax Loses More Than Half of Its Audience as the Loopy Prophecies of Trump's Resurrection Wane

Good.

Elsewhere, at least for a moment -

The New York Times finally admits bipartisanship is officially dead

Not a single Republican in Congress voted for the rescue package now headed for final approval in the House and a signature from Mr. Biden, as they angrily denounced the legislation and the way in which it was assembled. Other marquee Democratic measures to protect and expand voting rights, tackle police bias and misconduct and more are also drawing scant to zero Republican backing.

The supposed honeymoon period of a new president would typically provide a moment for lawmakers to come together, particularly as the nation enters its second year of a crushing health and economic crisis. Instead, the tense showdown over the stimulus legislation showed that lawmakers were pulling apart, and poised for more ugly clashes ahead.

[***]

...Anticipating the Republican recalcitrance to come, Democrats are increasingly coalescing around the idea of weakening or destroying the filibuster to deny Republicans their best weapon for thwarting the Democratic agenda. Democrats believe their control of the House, Senate and White House entitles them to push for all they can get, not settle for less out of a sense of obligation to an outdated concept of bipartisanship that does not reflect the reality of today’s polarized politics.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Senator Mitt Romney tweeted

@SenatorRomney
I voted against the $1.9 trillion #COVID19 package because it’s full of wasteful spending unrelated to urgent pandemic needs. Republicans, in good faith, sought to negotiate a compromise bill that would have targeted COVID assistance to those who really need it.

Sorry I haven't been following the details of this bill - what wasteful unrelated spending is he talking about?

 

[Aridas]

Sorry I haven't been following the details of this bill - what wasteful unrelated spending is he talking about?

To poke at USA Today, just because that's the first obviously relevant article that popped up in a quick search -

The sweeping COVID-19 relief bill has been criticized by Republicans for an array of earmarks that stray far from the stated purpose of the bill.

PolitiFact rated "Mostly True" a claim from conservative Stand for America that the bill contains unrelated projects. Examples cited in that fact check included a $1.5 million bridge connecting New York and Canada; a $100 million underground rail project in Silicon Valley; $480 million for Native American language preservation and maintenance; and $50 million in environmental justice grants. The bill would also raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and change pension funding rules.

All told, about 15% of the proposal goes to “long-standing policy priorities that are not directly related to the current crisis,” said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization formed to educate the public on federal budget issues.

Otherwise, though...

About 22% of the total bill comes from the $422 billion set aside for $1,400-per-person stimulus checks. Another 13% ($246 billion) is for extending additional unemployment funding of $400 a week.

A combined 12% is going to:

Subsidized COBRA for laid-off workers.
Affordable Care Act subsidies for the next two years.
Expanded nutrition assistance to replace school lunch programs during the pandemic.
Funding for testing and contact tracing.
Disaster Relief Fund increases and covering COVID-19-related funeral expenses.
Grants to airlines and contractors to freeze layoffs through September.
Defense Production Act funding for medical supplies.
Grants for restaurants and bars that have lost revenue in the pandemic.
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance grants of up to $10,000 per business.

Another $519 billion – 27% of the total – is going to state and local governments and schools, much of which will make up losses related to the pandemic and help schools reopen. Republicans note much of the school funding, however, won’t be spent immediately.

If the government and school aid is included in this category, about 85% of the American Rescue Plan is pandemic-related, according to a breakdown by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Republicans are saying Biden's package is too big!

That's what she said!

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Er, whut? You think Manchin et al is/are moderate?

Or was that a knee jerk "let's join with the Republican" dance that progressives who don't understand the situation keep doing in order to ensure they never, ever get what they say they want?

What progressive have "joined with the Republicans"? Is there a shred of evidence for this horseshoe theory BS?

I see 8 conservative Democrats voting with the Republican block to undermine the party agenda on minimum wage. For all the crying about how progressives aren't team players when it comes to party politics, these conservative elements of the party are almost always the ones preventing the party from governing effectively. When have progressives ever voted with the Republicans to block the party's platform, as we see here?

Seems like this is a problem that the party machine should be trying to deal with.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

“ Not a single Republican in Congress voted for the rescue package now headed for final approval in the House and a signature from Mr. Biden, as they angrily denounced the legislation and the way in which it was assembled.”

Angrily denounced? Boo hoo. Time for a good pout, I’d say.

Trump got his name on the earlier stimulus checks. How about these go out with “APPROVED OVER REPUBLICAN OBJECTIONS” in bold letters somewhere.

 

[Thermal]

This right here makes up for a lot of the complaining about Biden not being perfect.

Here in Canada, we've been having some difficulties getting the vaccines we ordered actually delivered. For the last year, we've been pretty smug about being better of than the US, but this proves something we've known all along: when the US finally gets its head out of its ass, it can get **** done faster and better than anyone else.

Sad that they had to waste a year doing stupid Trump **** instead.

We get things done by basically pushing gov't out of the way as much as is practical. That's what Operation Warp Speed was all about.

I read a while back that China released the genome for COV2 (or however that is properly expressed) on Jan 23 2020, and Moderna literally had their vaccine ready for trials over the weekend. The rest of the time was running the trials to be sure it worked. And I got the Pfizer earlier than I should have because I stepped around the beurocracy and went directly to a vac site, who was literally begging for someone to use the vaccine before they couldn't store it anymore, while they waited for government to slog through its slow processes and come up with committee approved lists.

 

[Kestrel]

Interesting idea to change it rather than throw it out completely. Is someone in the senate proposing this route? What change is suggested?

At one time filibustering a bill required Senators to literally stand before the Senate and talk to keep a bill from being voted into law. The modern rules require a supermajority vote to stop debate and vote on the measure, even when there is no actual debate. Going back to the old system is one possible change.

Another possibility is to limit the number of days of debate once a bill reaches the Senate floor. For example, 30 days after reaching the floor only a simple majority vote is required to terminate debate and vote on the bill.