This is going to be a long slog (Washington Post):
President Biden on Monday took a subtle yet unmistakable dig at Republicans who have backed away from a major funding component in a bipartisan infrastructure package that is now starting to fray, saying pointedly that “we shook hands on it” even as he continued to promote the agreement.
Biden’s comment, with its accusatory undertones, reflected the agreement’s precarious state at the outset of what could be a pivotal week. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to force a vote within days to advance the roughly $1 trillion plan despite the Republican hesitations, a high-stakes gamble that is intended to force agreement but that GOP senators on Monday warned they would reject.
President Biden will travel to Ohio for a town hall event for some bully pulpit politicing to try to build pressure on Republicans (and a couple of Democrats) for passage … somehow.
On the Democrats’ side of the House, frustration grows (Politico):
Fresh off a two-week recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team have begun early discussions about how to achieve the near-perfect sequencing needed to steer two behemoth bills — a bipartisan infrastructure deal along with a $3.5 trillion social spending package — through the narrowly divided House. But with the Senate likely to go first on both, it’s unclear whether the upper chamber can get either plan ready for House consideration in the coming weeks.
That’s not sitting well with some Democrats.
“Obviously, we need to be more involved,” said Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), describing the frustration of many House Democratswho want to have a greater role in the talks. “They’ve got to be able to pass something over there, and bring it over here … That’s gonna be the tough part.”
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) trashed the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure negotiations on a private call Monday night, according to three unnamed Politico sources:
The “whole thing falling apart is probably the best thing,” DeFazio said on the call of the Senate talks, which have President Joe Biden’s endorsement..
DeFazio’s frustrations were echoed by several other members on the call. One lawmaker, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) called the current process “bullshit,” and some vowed to work against the Senate’s bipartisan effort.
“I said the whole process seemed like [bullshit],” Carbajal told POLITICO in a brief interview afterward. “A lot of work has gone into this. There’s been a bipartisan effort to really align everything together, and you know it’s just very frustrating and disappointing when so much work goes into this … It is just annoying, to say the least.”
The infrastructure plan negotiated with Senate Republicans cuts DeFazio’s $30 billion in climate-related funding down to $18 billion. DeFazio calls that a “nonstarter.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer still plans a preliminary vote Wednesday on the unfinalized deal to apply pressure to Senate Republicans (NBC News):
“They have been working on this bipartisan framework for a month already. It’s time to begin the debate,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday, adding that the leading Democratic negotiators “support this approach.”
Schumer said he would use “a shell bill” because the completed text hasn’t been written as negotiators iron out disagreements about how it should be funded. “This will allow the Senate to begin debate and amendments on the bipartisan bill,” Schumer said.
Part of the hangup is the $100 billion in revenue Democrats expected to raise through increased tax collections from inceased Internal Revenue Service enforcement. But Republican objections have forced Democrats to seek other revenue sources to support the infrastructure package.
A “critical mass” of Senate Republicans plan to block the legislation if it is not first finalized.
“It’s not going to get 60, let’s put it that way,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday, referring to the number of votes needed to advance nearly any legislation on the Senate floor.
Please.
It gets to the point where enduring this obligatory bipartisan shadowboxing is worse than the impending legislative failure. We all know Republicans start at F#ck you and move on to F#ck you 2x after “negotiating.” Why is that so hard to grasp for people who have been inside the Beltway much of their adult lives?
Or do they just do it because the think the press expects it? The public expects results.
With precious few exceptions, Senate Republicans will all vote no in the end. The beforehand news coverage is simply filling column inches.