Biden infrastructure/tax increase megathread

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This is an amazing presidency so far.

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It's not like Congress could have been a yes anyway. And wealth taxes don't seem to have been very successful, maybe using the existing taxes better is the way to go.

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Potential 2024 candidate and bonafide satan hater Kristi Noem brings up a great point about Biden’s infrastructure plan: it gives money for things like houses and pipes

https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1377429336014262275?s=21

No wonder she has barely won twice in South Dakota.

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So Republicans are now the party of increasing taxes on ordinary people, Biden is the populist low tax President? Wow.

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Lol McConnell is having a terrible year so far, his past actions just keep coming back to bite him.

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Manchin came through!

https://twitter.com/potus/status/1408103224817639432?s=21

Trump had 4 years of infrastructure weeks and failed. Biden got it done in 5 months.

That's the heart of it-Trump could only focus on it for 7 days at most. Biden made it a priority, stuck at it and now could actually get it done.

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Congratulations on this historic achievement, President Biden! Now, go even further.

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I found this speech from Toomey the other day, looks like he's to the right of Trump on economics. Regardless, the 7 Republicans who voted to convict are automatically better than the other 43-defending democracy and the rule of law (even though they only did it once Trump had already lost and given Democrats a trifecta) has to be the bottom line.

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The political system really is rigged folks, even though the election results aren't.

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This looks like it'll be a long process, but I think since the bills poll well and Democrats are coming up empty on other stuff, they will ultimately pass something.

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Is McCarthy just opposing the BIF so strongly because Trump is making him? Since the BIF passing is supposed to make it a lot more likely Manchin and Sinema then vote down reconciliation, why can't the Republicans give it enough votes to pass?

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This stupid idea of never passing the BIF makes no sense. The BIF is better for America than the status quo, so worst-case Democrats should make sure to pass it in this Congress even if the reconciliation fails. Of course tactically though, they should hold it hostage to make it more likely that Manchin and Sinema vote for reconciliation, but basically the threat should be a bluff. The ultimate question is the degree of progress made, anything is better than nothing.

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Key to Biden’s Climate Agenda Likely to Be Cut Because of Manchin Opposition

WASHINGTON — The most powerful part of President Biden’s climate agenda — a program to rapidly replace the nation’s coal- and gas-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear energy — will likely be dropped from the massive budget bill pending in Congress, according to Congressional staffers and lobbyists familiar with the matter.

Senator Joe Manchin III, the Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia whose vote is crucial to the passage of the bill, has told the White House that he strongly opposes the clean electricity program, according to three of those people. As a result, White House staffers are now rewriting the legislation without that climate provision, and are trying to cobble together a mix of other policies that could also cut emissions.

Most on this thread saw this coming. To those that didn't, I think now would be a good time to quietly retreat from those loud hardline progressive stances and red lines before you're forced to choose between humiliation or irrationally rejecting half a loaf in favor of none.

Disgusting, humanity and the planet can't afford politicians kicking the can down the road anymore. It's hardly surprising though, and it might have to be done to get all the other good stuff in the bill passed.

[Pericles]

Manchin is irate at Bernie going into WV to sell the bill

Live footage of the joe Manchin vs Bernie sanders fight....



Honestly, this behavior is embarrassing for both of them. These are grown man who are acting like children

Rather than coming together in order to get things done on behalf of the American people they much rather have this pointless and ridiculous public fight.

In the end, I guess their bruised egos are far more important than actually helping the American people

Yes, because Joe Manchin's desire to scale back family leave, Medicare benefits, free community college, and green energy is rooted in a desire to help the American people /s.

At no point did ever claim Joe Manchin silly demands are in the best interest of the American people. I simply pointed out that the pointless fight between him and Berine won't help anybody in the end because When it comes to what is actually in the best interest of the American people, both the progressives and moderates should be willing to compromise and negotiate in good faith

Now, having said all of that, let me be very clear about this I think Joe Manchin demands are ridiculous and it's becoming increasingly clear to me that he cares more about gutting the reconciliation bill than he does about passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

As frustrated as I'm am over all of this Joe Manchin was right when he said that if Dems wanted a bigger reconciliation bill they should have elected more progressive Dems in 2020. Had the Dems actually won more senate seats in 2020 we would not even be in this mess in the first place. A democrat senate lead by Joe Manchin is not one that I ever would have wanted, but ultimately that is the Senate that we currently have

So unfortunately in order to get anything done at all we are all just going to have to swallow our pride and deal with this crappy situation the best we possibly can

 

Unfortunately, the current system of government gives equal representation to both WV and CA. Which is ludicrous, and probably a recipe for disaster. But I'm not criticizing you for pointing out the obvious status quo. I'm just suggesting that maybe it would be better for Democrats to kill both bills, make an example of Manchin, and forcefully demand the democratization of the Senate. Because a future in which we're all expected to abide by the climate decisions of the idiots of WV is not something I'm willing to accept.

'Forcefully demand' equals impotently screaming while Mitch McConnell laughs and with a majority that represents a minority of the population, does whatever he wants. Democrats can do a lot of good things, they have a responsibility to do as much good as they possibly can, and prove that the government can deliver for the people.

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That's a reasonable point overall but climate change really is a crisis that demands urgent action. If it can't get passed the other good stuff should should least be passed but not taking climate action will have dire consequences for the world.

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Is there anything on expanding sick leave? Presuming that hasn't been done already, that should be included. Covid shows that if people don't have the financial support to stay home when ill, that costs lives and also harms the economy.

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Someone tell me what’s really in this bill that the average American will feel and notice?

I hope it fails. I really really do.

Child care and paid leave are the only two things Americans would really notice.

I don’t give a sh**t about the climate BS. That’s only helpful if every country in the world takes similar action

That's an awful attitude, climate change doesn't suddenly go from ok to terrible, it's a spectrum and every point of a degree of warming that doesn't happen is a great benefit to humanity. America is a major emitter and it has a duty to take action. Plus, why would other countries do their part if America doesn't? You have a responsibility to provide global leadership.

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Don't be stupid, a bill that improves things even slightly is better than no improvement at all.

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I'm proud of President Biden for taking major action on climate change and prioritising it. Every Democrat has a responsibility to get in line and vote for this, and everyone who votes against it will go down in history as planet-burning arsonists because of their own stupidity or desire for selfish political gain.

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How long until the reconciliation bill gets a Senate vote?

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If Justice Dem self-promoters want to vote against what will undoubtedly be an incredibly popular and influential bill, I say go for it.  Voting NO on the main thing Dems are gonna run on in the 2022 midterms doesn't seem like an ace political move to me, but what do I know, my tweets don't get 168K likes.

I seem to recall throughout 2015-2020 "progressives" justifying their outlandish, unworkable, fantasy-land demands by saying "you have to demand more than you want so you meet in the middle to get what you actually want."  Or some variant of that thinking.  So in this negotiation, Biden started by demanding the most progressive spending plan imaginable, and then the furthest-right members of the caucus pared it down to something that's still pretty good.  But now apparently that "meet in the middle" strategy goes out the window, and if you don't agree to the original demand, we're not going to vote for it.  OK, so the entire thing was in bad faith?  Like these people are just children.  Folks, please stop electing idiot children to Congress -- they don't know how to govern, they don't know how to legislate, they don't know how to negotiate, and all they do is humiliate the party day after day after day.

This is grade A quality gaslighting.

It's not any worse than people claiming it's a terrible bill that should be voted down.

Those people are a lot worse, or at least more wrong, than people who tactically disagree about exactly when the BIF should be passed.

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So is Pelosi aiming to get a vote in before the Virginia gubernatorial elections? It's hard to see how that would be worth the risk of Manchin or Sinema changing their mind. Maybe she is so confident in their support that she thinks that Youngkin might otherwise win and trigger a wave of swing-district retirements that would not otherwise occur, but it's unwise. It would be great if the reconciliation bill could pass the Senate in the next few days. However, I think we can wait just a little bit longer for the BIF, and it does look like that will happen regardless of what Pelosi says.

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I'm proud of President Biden for taking major action on climate change and prioritising it. Every Democrat has a responsibility to get in line and vote for this, and everyone who votes against it will go down in history as planet-burning arsonists because of their own stupidity or desire for selfish political gain.

Nah, that title is reserved for any and all Neoliberals; and the establishment who created this disgusting Frankenstein of a bill that will only continue us on the march towards autocracy and becoming a failed state.

Any Progressive with a spine and principles will vote to kill this bill. Period.

BS, anyone who votes against climate action regardless of their motive is responsible for the climate crisis then being worse.

[Pericles]

I'm proud of President Biden for taking major action on climate change and prioritising it. Every Democrat has a responsibility to get in line and vote for this, and everyone who votes against it will go down in history as planet-burning arsonists because of their own stupidity or desire for selfish political gain.

Nah, that title is reserved for any and all Neoliberals; and the establishment who created this disgusting Frankenstein of a bill that will only continue us on the march towards autocracy and becoming a failed state.

Any Progressive with a spine and principles will vote to kill this bill. Period.

BS, anyone who votes against climate action regardless of their motive is responsible for the climate crisis then being worse.

Anyone who can define this bill as doing literally anything significant enough to alter the course of climate change is more blind than I realized was possible. All passing this bill will do is provide liberals with a chance to self-pleasure themselves until the next Mid-Term elections while having effectively accomplished next to nothing. Period.

$555 billion is a lot better than $0, and it's success by the standards of US politics. Biden even thinks it could halve emissions by 2030. Unfortunately, in any political system but especially the US one, it's hard to get much of what you want so it's best to seize opportunities when they are offered, like right now.

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Glenn Youngkin should send Jayapal and Sanders nice Christmas presents since their grandstanding may well have gift-wrapped him the VA Governor's office.

The reconciliation bill is worth him winning.