Pelosi Goes for Broke
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Can Nancy Pelosi bull-rush her few House moderates and Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema ? That seems to be her strategy this week as she prepares to jam a $3.5 trillion ( really $5 trillion ) tax and spending bill through Congress.
Mr. Manchin recently wrote in our pages that he favors a “strategic pause” on the spending bill to assess its economic impact and take more time to debate specific policies. Sounds sensible. But Speaker Pelosi doesn’t do pauses, especially in what she views as her legacy project to turn the U.S. into a European entitlement state.
She keeps moving on the spending bill she calls “transformative” to appease her left flank. The Budget Committee marked it up this weekend. She’s hoping this movement will be enough to pass the Senate infrastructure bill through the House this week. Her expectation is that passing that bill will be enough to buy off the swing-district Democrats to sign up for her entitlement project. These Democrats haven’t shown any backbone to date, so it’s a reasonable bet.
The bigger imponderable is whether she and President Biden can bludgeon hesitant Senators into submission. Mrs. Pelosi promised her caucus any bill will be pre-negotiated with the Senate before a vote. But she may have to break that pledge, and many House Democrats have already taken votes in committee that could end their political careers in 2022.
For Mrs. Pelosi, legislative success on her terms is all that matters. The party’s fate in 2022 is incidental, since she’s likely to retire and once entitlements are in place she figures Republicans will lack the fortitude to repeal them. The Speaker will keep marching even if it breaks her own majority.
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This will be the last round-up for Pelosi. She knows that democrats will lose the House in 2022. It will be her last term as Speaker. She has created a big pressure cooker of a week for the House. Like she told the democrat lacky George Stephanopoulos yesterday, She doesn't put a bill to a vote until she knows that she has the votes. That means that democrats will be forced to walk the plank, which will end the political careers for many of them.
Does anyone know what's in this bill? Is this another 'you have to vote for it to find out what's in it' moment?
Democrats are trying to push this monstrous omni-bill through reconciliation. So what comes out of the sausage grinder of reconciliation may not bear any resemblance to what the House will vote on. Democrats are trying to write the legislation after the vote. Pelosi is demanding a blank check.
Yes, all of this is about Pelosi's ego rather than about governing. I'd think the quality of the legislation would be important for any sort of legacy. But then we are talking about Democrats.
We can only hope she loses her only gamble.
Pushing something through the House doesn't mean it will survive reconciliation. Pelosi knows that. This is a gamble by Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden. And they're gambling that, at some point, they will be able to blame Republicans.
But the whole point of using the sham of reconciliation was to remove Republicans from the equation which was supposed to throw Republicans into a frenzy of spittle-spewing outrage. Republicans aren't doing their part --- yet. Give 'em time. Republicans have always gifted Democrats with campaign talking points. This time will be no different.
You know this was planned before Biden's inauguration. Democrats had planned a legislative agenda intended to highlight Republican opposition which was supposed to translate to better down ballot success. Most of the legislation in the House has been deliberately intended to be divisive and raise the hackles of Republicans. The so-called voting rights bill was intended to do nothing more than piss off Republicans. Democrats didn't expect to become the Senate majority. Winning Georgia has really bit Democrats in the ass.
Now it looks like Republicans are going to stonewall the infrastructure bill. Republicans can always be counted on to shit on their own plate.
Disagree...the dopey and dumb Dems are falling apart, while the Republicans watch with amusement
Yep, Democrats did this to themselves. But Republicans will let Democrats off the hook. They always have. That's the legacy of Newt Gingrich. Trump isn't the first clown Republicans have put in charge. At least Trump was fighting for something worthwhile. But give Republicans time, they'll screw that up, too, like everything else.