Biden infrastructure/tax increase megathread

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If the moderate Dems honestly backstab us again and back out of reconciliation, we need a wave of primaries in 2022.

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Let's not forget that the goal of reconciliation isn't about getting AOC's agenda passed, nor Sanders's, nor Warren's... it's about getting Biden's agenda passed. This is the only way that Biden will be more than a lame duck president going forward. If we've already moved the goalposts to the point that Biden, who was already a compromise for many of us on the left, is "too extreme", and that joining the Party of Trump to block his agenda is now what constitutes being "moderate", or that we're really going to play "both sides " when progressives are the ones working to get Biden's agenda passed against a party that will block it at all costs, then we're lost.

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Glad to see that Biden has his priorities straight. As others have said, this isn't even moderates versus progressives. This is the overwhelming majority of the Democratic Party versus a few "Democrats" who will happily sabotage the party and Biden's presidency if it makes them feel better about their re-election odds.

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At this point, Democrats need to threaten to remove Manchin and Sinema from their respective committees. There's being "centrist", and then there's derailing the entire agenda of a president from your own party so that you can look/feel good. They need a taste of their own "my way or the highway" medicine.

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Menendez joins the fab 2!

https://mobile.twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1450510670181634061

Can't risk losing his big pharma $$$, I guess.

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I just hope this entire experience serves as a memorable lesson for those who think political power is a magical and and you can easily bully everyone in the caucus into passing your dream legislation.

Or, maybe the lesson is that progressives are not obstructionists nor the biggest obstacles to progress...

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https://mobile.twitter.com/stephensemler/status/1453043737005903878

We get nothing out of this deal

If this is the best Democrats can do with a trifecta, then I'm ready to go full-on doomer. I'm not going to make excuses for a party when its own members move the goalposts so far that we're supposed to be grateful for minimal changes that some members still had to be dragged kicking and screaming to support, even after multiple crucial programs were slashed. I'm more convinced by the day that I made the right choice by ditching the red avatar.

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https://mobile.twitter.com/stephensemler/status/1453043737005903878

We get nothing out of this deal

If this is the best Democrats can do with a trifecta, then I'm ready to go full-on doomer. I'm not going to make excuses for a party when its own members move the goalposts so far that we're supposed to be grateful for minimal changes that some members still had to be dragged kicking and screaming to support, even after multiple crucial programs were slashed. I'm more convinced by the day that I made the right choice by ditching the red avatar.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but they could do a lot more with a functioning trifecta. Say a 53-55 seat majority in the senate that abolishes the filibuster and at least 230 members in the House. Given how disastrous Trump's term was, the Republican Party should have lost in a massive landslide and after January 6 have no business in getting back to power for the rest of this decade.

They probably could, but they need to be asking themselves why they only got a bare bones victory in 2020 despite so many things working in their favor, and why they're at risk of losing a race in a Democratic-trending Biden +10 state. If they're ever going to get a bigger majority, they need to reach more voters, and the current drama isn't helping.

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https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1454185536428642314

At the same time, the progressives rolled back their policy demands and lowered the tactical threshold for winning their votes on infrastructure. While leading liberals had initially insisted that their votes would hinge on Senate passage of the larger benefits package, now some are saying that a spoken commitment from the Senate centrist holdouts - Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) - would be enough to win their backing.

Are we seriously going to take their word for it?

To be fair, I don't think they'll just blatantly knife Biden in the back by lying about how they'll vote.

Have you met Sinema?

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If this bill really does literally nothing, you'd think we could save the $1.8 trillion it's going to cost and instead spend $0 since apparently they'll both achieve the same result.

help me i'm too stupid to read what's in the bill and get all my opinions from angry-sounding twitter accounts

People here aren’t saying it’s “literally nothing”, simply that far too much has been cut for it to be considered more than a disappointment. Especially since these are policies that Biden supports!

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How hard is it to vote on the two bills at the same time?

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https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1457460601131700224

Racist Southerner elected by other racist Southerners, many of whom live under sea level, criticizes/blocks critical climate change legislation. Will turn around and demand a bailout from "woke" Northerners the next time his trash state floods. LOL.

Will it kill them to not use the word "woke" in every sentence they mutter?

They believe that's what wins elections now.

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Let’s hope his “concern” is as consequential as Republican “concern” for Trump was.

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I'm so done with this party. Why is the only alternative to the low effort troll party a party that is so incompentent and so unwilling to play hardball with frauds like Manchin or even have any standards beyond having a (D) next to one's name?

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If Maine voters weren't falling for Collins' fake moderateism and perhaps Cal Cunningham got his act together, nobody would have to be worried about Manchin's back and forth, which is extremely annoying. It's almost like he wants Biden to fail.

He does want Biden to fail, since he's delusional enough to think he has a chance at winning re-election (and that this will help him.)

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If Maine voters weren't falling for Collins' fake moderateism and perhaps Cal Cunningham got his act together, nobody would have to be worried about Manchin's back and forth, which is extremely annoying. It's almost like he wants Biden to fail.

He does want Biden to fail, since he's delusional enough to think he has a chance at winning re-election (and that this will help him.) his donors want Biden to fail.

Fair enough, that too.

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I shouldn’t have deluded myself into thinking that there was actually a left-wing party in this country, or a party that would actually commit to any sort of progress. If the party is more hostile to progressives than Manchin types, why bother even pretending that it’s meaningfully different from the Republican Party? Yes, it may be the “lesser of two evils”, but do people seriously understand that after a certain point, that isn’t good enough?

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That online Dems in this thread are unhappy with Joe Manchin is a sign he's doing all the right things in regards to brand management. This is how you are able to stay electable in a state Trump won by 40 points.

Bad logic. If a Republican is upset about a tornado, should I praise said tornado? And Manchin is absolutely done in 2024 no matter how much he sabotages Biden. Seeing him get flattened by 15+% might end up being one of the few enjoyable results over the next three years.

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https://twitter.com/eyokley/status/1518598149081808896

I'm going to become the joker

Triggering the libs is a more powerful drug than opium.