It’s very hard to sort out what is going on with the Reconciliation bill. It seems as though they have Sinema on board although that could easily fall apart. Manchin’s little press conference yesterday seemed to indicate that he was a big fat no, but apparently he was trying to get the progressives to make a scene or something and when they stuck to their promise to vote on both bills he’s now backed off? Honestly, it’s hard to understand what the hell is going on.
Montana Senator Jon Tester had this to say:
The Montana Democrat told reporters yesterday evening that while he believes House progressives messed up by not passing BIF last week, “I think Joe made a mistake” by holding that vague press conference yesterday afternoon, in which the West Virginia senator clarified next to nothing about his position on the new, White House-approved reconciliation framework.
“I think that in this moment in time trust is a hard thing, and you don’t want to give people excuses to vote against the BIF or against reconciliation,” Tester said. “So let’s just get it done.”
“The American people are tired of the dithering,” he added.
I know I am. This is torture. An the sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be. Two Divas have turned this sausage into a disgusting pile of toxic, fetid, raw meat and it’s affecting the entire party. The right goes through this as well, of course. The Obamacare repeal failure is a good example, although the truth is that a whole lot of Republicans didn’t want that to succeed because they knew it would cause havoc in the electorate to suddenly withdraw health insurance from 20 million people. So they were secretly happy that McCain took the heat. When it comes to their most important priorities, tax cuts and judges, they hung together no matter what, even when the administration put up insanely unqualified hacks for lifetime appointments but there is no denying that Trump caused tremendous schisms in the party although in the end they always seem to come together to save him. So they are not immune.
But this Democratic sturm und drang over big programs is always destructive. Let’s hope it really is over soon.