The House approved its version of the Build Back Better Act, 220-213. Some provisions
-univ preK, ⬇️child care costs
-health care: Medicare hearing coverage, close Medicaid coverage gap
-$550B on climate
-extended child tax credit
-addl $ for paid leave, home care, education— Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) November 19, 2021
And *now* I can go to bed, and get some much-needed sleep!
Democrats jumped up and down, clapped, hugged, fist pumped, and did little happy dances when the vote was passed, announced by Pelosi.
— Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) November 19, 2021
Edmund Dantes
Balls in Manchin and Sinema’s court now, don’t fuck it up assholes.
laura
Best Friday news dump ever!
NotMax
Funding and support for unmoribunding IRS enforcement!
Omnes Omnibus
Is it okay to talk about what’s in the bill now?
TaMara (HFG)
Unintended consequences
Mai Naem mobile
Wtf is up with Jared Golden voting no? One fucking Dem. Whatevs. Nancy effing Pelosi will go down as one of the most effective speakers in American history. And she did in heels and with way smaller majorities.
zhena gogolia
Oh, but the NYT front page tells me it’s going to incwease the deficit!
p.a.
Watching to see how much Sinemanchin ‘Liebermanizes’ the Senate version. I’m not happy w either, but fucking Joe has enough $$$ to just rubberstamp the House version and retire fat and happy until he croaks; anything else is inexcusable. Sinema is young enough that her oppo may be some kind of long game for Idunnowhat, or, of course, she may just be an idiot.
JimO
I would like to know what the final status of the State and Local Tax deduction is. Is it capped at 10K still? Is it capped at 80K? Is the cap gone? I desperately would like the simple statement of where they finally left that item without histrionics and high dudgeon.
Old School
Hooray!
Danielx
Kevin McCarthy is a doucherocket. Just sayin’.
sdhays
@zhena gogolia: I’m so tired of that word. For just about my entire life, it’s been used for nothing but bad faith arguments to do bad things. Back in the 90’s, I believed it was important, but now when I hear it/read anything with that word in it, I just start tuning out. It’s automatic. I just don’t care anymore.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: With the crowd you are asking, I am guessing the answer is still ‘no’.
Screw that, it’s important to talk about what’s in the bill.
Geminid
@Mai Naem mobile: I would explain Golden’s vote by the fact that trump carried his Maine 2nd District. That does not necessarily justify it, though.
WaterGirl
@JimO: What makes the SALT tax the most important thing for you?
Spanky
@p.a.: Always bet on idiocy. Always.
OzarkHillbilly
@zhena gogolia:
I don’t know who has the more accurate math, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a Republican.
Chris
@p.a.:
My fear forever has been that they’re both (especially Sinema) angling for immortal meme-ness in the form of a John McCain moment, where they let the bill go all the way to signature just so they can kill it as dramatically as possible.
(As Abigail Nussbaum over at LGM pointed out at the time, it’s nice that McCain’s action on the ACA worked out for the American people for once, but it really said a lot about what a bottomless hole of narcissism and spite the man was).
taumaturgo
Maine 2nd Congressional District
U.S. Census Bureau (2010 data)[1]
Population: 660,042
Gender: 49.4% Male, 50.6% Female
Race[2]: 95.5% White, 0.6% Black, 0.6% Asian, 1% Native American
Ethnicity: 1.1% Hispanic
Unemployment: 10.1%
Median household income
$40,518
High school graduation rate
89%
College graduation rate
21.6%
schrodingers_cat
Celebratory front page post and the very first comment is a negative one.
Never change Balloon Juice
Geminid
@JimO: No need to be desperate. That particular news will be out soon, may already be reported. I think they were tinkering with this particular item well into yesterday.
Senators Sanders and Menendez say they have a different approach to the SALT deduction, so we may not have the final answer until a Senate /Houseconference commitee resolves the matter.
I’ll never use the SALT deduction, but I really don’t care about that resolution except in so far as it affects Democrats’ election chances next year.
Jeffro
Yup, safe bet there.
I also don’t know why coverage of this supposed ‘increase’ in the deficit/debt/whatever doesn’t note that across 10 years, we’re basically talking about a rounding error in a $4.7 T annual U.S. budget.
Wait…actually I do know why the coverage doesn’t note it: reporters are too lazy to look it up and wayyyy to lazy to try and explain it to their readers/audiences.
Maybe a bar graph comparing BBB’s net impact on the deficit compared to the trumpov tax giveaways? Is that too much to ask, snooze media?
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: No shit. I swore a couple of weeks ago I wouldn’t read anything about those two senators. I expect I’ll be skipping a lot of B-J posts in the next few weeks.
Fake Irishman
@OzarkHillbilly:
Parker’s retweet just deals with the tax enforcement portion. The CBO projects a small increase in the deficit over all while Treasury estimates project a small surplus (because of how they treat tax enforcement) both are pretty small-c conservative estimates of revenues.
germy
germy
Here’s a great example of one life-changing policy in the bill:
schrodingers_cat
@germy: Where are all the tankies and tankie adjacents who were ranting and raving about the ice-cream in her freezer now.
J_Noodles
@p.a.:At this point, it seems pretty obvious to me that Sinema is another Tulsi Gabbard style fraud. Like Gabbard, she conned a lot of people into thinking she was a progressive, grifting her way to the national stage. Now that she’s senator, she can also take
bribesdonations from big business lobbies (both foreign and domestic) pushing against higher taxes for the rich. When her political career inevitable crashes and burns, she’ll probably be shittposting, blogging and going Fox News to speak against Democrats like midlife crisis Psylocke has been doing of late. All to keep the con going and maintain relevance.UncleEbeneezer
@schrodingers_cat: I blame Obama.
schrodingers_cat
@frosty: I am sure we will get a 20 paragraph jargon laden FP post about how this is the worst thing ever and Democrats are going to lose everything. Because shut up that’s why.
germy
@schrodingers_cat:
Give them time, they’ll come up with something. She recently officiated at the wedding of a wealthy couple. That was good for a few days of complaining. And then it was forgotten.
Leto
Worthless reporter just now: “How do you respond to Republicans today, that say, Democrats lied to the American republic like when they said, “This plan costs zero dollars” when the CBO says that it at least adds 160 billion dollars to the debt?”
Nancy “Get that fucking shit out of here” Pelosi: “Let’s just not, uh, present what the Republicans say as any fact that you’re predicating a question on. I mean, understand what’s happening around here, ok?”
Nancy SMASH!
Another Scott
@JimO: I saw various comments about things being phased in and out over 5 years. If nothing had changed, then things would have changed under the existing TFG bill in 5-10 years anyway.
Here’s the text of HR 5376 – but I don’t know if it’s the actual final version that was voted on (there’s often a lag in the Congress.gov website). I tried to do a quick search, but nothing jumped out at me. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
Whatever it is, I would assume that the Senate version may be slightly different and they’ll have to hammer out the differences in Conference. (Or maybe they’ll say “enough, let’s get it done and go home” – who knows.)
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@germy
Doesn’t have to be updated very much.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@p.a.: Sinema is a Green, she wants to punish the moderate left for not joining her revolution.
zhena gogolia
OT, but I hope everybody saw this lowlife yesterday.
Leto
@Fake Irishman:
The issue here is how it’s being reported. The CBO deficit increase is what the media is already running with while neglecting to include the projected Treasury increase. It’s all “THIS WILL ADD TO THE DEFICIT! BIDEN LIED!” Pelosi, and some of her other colleagues, are currently dealing with this in real time at the press conference here. They’re already pushing back on that bullshit, but the media is already running with their predetermined narrative and it’s what we’ll hear for the next X number of days/months ahead.
J_Noodles
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: And we know the Green party at this point is a Russian OP.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax:
rotating tag? too long? evergreen comment?
Cathie from Canada
As great as this achievement is, I now dread a rerun of the endless Manchin & Sinema Show that will dominate December, with a brief intermissions for another debt ceiling debate.
Schumer needs to Bring Back Earmarks! Its the only way to get this moving.
rikyrah
Nancy Smash is truly the GOAT.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@J_Noodles: So far to The Left they end up on The Right.
Steeplejack
@Mai Naem mobile:
See Edmund Dantes’s comment downstairs.
Geminid
@taumaturgo: Two other Maine 2nd District numbers, from the 2020 Presidential tally: trump 196,692 Biden 168,696.
Golden won reelection by ~22,500 votes.
Fun fact: In land area, Maine’s Second District is the largest district east of the Mississippi River.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: That being said, it will get changed in the Senate. But this was a vital step forward.
Leto
@zhena gogolia: Chris Hayes covered this last night, including a good bit of that shitbag’s questioning. I heard that person off camera say, “Oh my goodness” and that’s the most gentle response I can think of to that. Half her family was fucking murdered by Stalinists, she didn’t have a choice in growing up in the Soviet Union, and bayou John wants her to write to her old school to get some type of note stating she’s no longer in the Youth Communist Party (or whatever the fuck it was called)? Sen Warren’s response to this was included in the coverage, and she was right to call it McCarthy tactics. Disgusting doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Here’s the clip from the Hayes show. Doesn’t include all of shitbag’s questioning but you can get the jist of it.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I did see that. They have embraced bigotry as their main issue!
OzarkHillbilly
@Fake Irishman: Thanx, I was pretty sure she wasn’t doing the whole bill. Regardless, BBB is still far more fiscally responsible than there rich man’s handjob’s giveaway 4 years ago.
Brachiator
@Edmund Dantes:
Ha! Yeah, totally agree.
Leto
@Cathie from Canada: Earmarks never went away, but they were “officially” brought back this year:
Video: Why Congress brought back earmarks after a 10-year hiatus
Dems reintroduced it but with a lot more rules surrounding the process.
sixthdoctor
The insulin cap ALONE should be on every Democrat’s messaging for 2022. “So, why do want parents to pay thousands of dollars more a year for their kid’s insulin? Are you a sadistic scumbag, or just dead inside? Or both? Yeah, probably both.”
Kay
Pre k access is complicated and doesn’t fall along red/blue lines the way one might expect. I think the big change will be upper middle and middle class will benefit from the publicly funded programs, which will benefit the publicly funded programs broadly because you want to bring them in. Public programs are more robust, resilient and have more political support if they aren’t limited to “the poor”.
Edmund Dantes
@Omnes Omnibus: no because it’s not actually in the bill yet until Manchin and Sinema are done. Don’t be an ass.
Geminid
@germy: Magdi Semrau, who tweets as @Magi_Jay, has a practical and academic background in childhood education. She describes Universal Pre-K as a “game changer”, especially for educationally disadvantaged children. This is a wise investment in our nation’s human capital that will pay off handsomely.
Cameron
@zhena gogolia: I would have added to her response, “You were born in Louisiana. Are you still in the Klan?”
UncleEbeneezer
Oh FFS…
“Progressivism once looked to the future; today, it’s stuck in the past. – The Nation”
Dear The Nation, delete your account.
taumaturgo
This is the kind of inflation we don’t hear much about and corrupt politicians get paid to protect.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-bonuses-will-jump-up-to-35-this-year-the-most-since-the-great-recession-11637094920
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
I would have said, “Well, Senator Kennedy. Are you now or have you ever been a communist? Because otherwise I have no idea why you would address me as ‘comrade.’ ”
Disgusting.
laura
@schrodingers_cat: I tried my best. We’re #2!
Edmund Dantes
@Mai Naem mobile: perfectly acceptable vote as he wasn’t needed. Just like with the squad the other day on BIF.
Sure Lurkalot
@Geminid: I used the SALT deduction until the standard deduction was increased beyond my ability to itemize, i.e. my mortgage, which is usually the expense that gets you to itemization, was no longer large enough. So, while this deduction does benefit the very wealthy, it helped my tax burden for years with a more modest home. Not on the coast either.
Brachiator
@Cameron:
I like that!
zhena gogolia
@Leto: Thanks! I’ll have to wait until my stomach is more settled . . .
Cameron
@UncleEbeneezer: Not only is it dumb, it doesn’t make sense. You don’t progress into the past.
Geminid
@Brachiator: I saw that Senator Sherrod Brown really unloaded on his Republican colleagues for their treatment of this nominee.
Sure Lurkalot
@Leto: JFC I hope I’m that sharp when I’m in my 80’s. Or even next year.
laura
@zhena gogolia:
but I hope everybody saw this lowlife yesterday.
That lowlife Jubilation T Cornpone trooped his fat ass on over to Russia for the 4th of July 2016.
Edmund Dantes
@schrodingers_cat: or it’s the reality. We watched the HOuse GOP celebrate the end of ACA. How did that work out for them? Lots of people here want to run to declare victory long before it’s achieved. Also as are those that declare defeat after it is won.
I am neither. Cause the truth is the bill isn’t passed yet or did we change US civics at some point that I missed?
Steve in the ATL
@Steeplejack:
You forgot to add “Said no one ever”
Confidential to Edmund Dantes: Zing!
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: THERE IS NO BILL!
Sorry, wrong thread….
Edmund Dantes
Apparently Golden’s justification is a better tax formula (lower tax). Which knowing the ME 2nd is a good fig leaf for how a lot of the ME 2nd thinks.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
Maybe he’s a Blue State voter that got screwed by the Republicans and wants his deductions back.
Who knows.
They phucked a lot of people out of a lot of $$$ with that bullshyt.
Another Scott
@sixthdoctor:
+1
This is real money for real people. It matters a lot.
Here’s hoping that the caps are solid and that drug companies can’t get around them by making the package purple or something… :-/
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
Fleeting Expletive
If he’s not called “Baby Carrots Kevin” from here on out, we are really missing Leader McCarthy’s best nickname.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@laura: always torn between Jubilation T Cornpone, Forghorn Leghorn, and as a kid who watched way too many reruns on local TV back in the day: Mr Haney.
schrodingers_cat
@Edmund Dantes: Wallowing in negativity and predicting doom before the event has even occurred is not reality, it is defeatism.
BTW PM Modi has promised to repeal the 3 farm laws that were passed in the parliament last year. The agitating farmers could have just given up and listened to Indian versions of Edmund Dantes but they didn’t. And they won.
BJP has a majority in the Indian version of the House of Commons BTW without the aid of any other party in the ruling coalition. So the math was clearly against them.
Geminid
@Sure Lurkalot: I said I was concerned about the effect of the SALT deduction on Democrats’ election chances next year, but I actually favor a higher cap on the deduction. When the Republicans imposed the $10,000 cap in 2017, they obviously were trying to punish citizens of high tax states like New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California. They want to undermine support for needed local and state programs by ending what is in effect a federal tax subsidy. Most citizens affected do not have the option of moving to lower tax states, but they do have the option of voting tax cutting Republican politicians into local and state office. That is what Congressional Republicans intended.
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: I think you are missing at least 4 exclamation marks.
rikyrah
@Geminid:
clap clap clap clap clap
schrodingers_cat
@laura: Good for you! And us, the non doomsday part of the commentariat.
Omnes Omnibus
@Edmund Dantes: There is a bill. Yes, it is subject to change. But there is a bill. Take your own advice.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
Foghorn Leghorn was directly descended from Senator Beauregard Claghorn.
bluegirlfromwyo
@sdhays: Same. I’m 50 so I’ve been hearing basically all my life that deficits will kill our economy, make the dollar worthless, etc. while the deficit kept going up. Until I get a number from the deficit hawks du jour, they’re the boy who cried wolf.
Old School
The Thin Black Duke
@Edmund Dantes: Ten steps forward, nine steps back. That’s a political reality that hasn’t changed as long as I can remember. Great societal changes are always incremental, so I’ll celebrate this victory because none of this would have happened under a republican administration. I think marginalized people in this country understand how this shit goes down.
Omnes Omnibus
@Edmund Dantes: The bill has not passed the Senate. We know that. This was still an important step in the process. There is nothing the fuck wrong with recognizing that fact and celebrating it.
p.a.
Good news:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/biden-to-take-key-step-toward-ousting-postmaster-louis-dejoy
Barbara
@Kay:
I second this sentiment. When my kids were in their last one/two years of daycare I looked at public alternatives, which were mostly limited to kids who were considered to be at risk of lower achievement because of language or other barriers. There was a lottery for any remaining slots. This didn’t bother me unduly because I had the wherewithal to deal with the situation, and certainly, reducing the number of kids with special burdens in a classroom benefits both the other kids and teachers — but the cost of two additional years of full-time care is a big deal for most people, however that care is provided, including if it means two more years of a parent staying out of the workforce.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Leto
OT, more good news: (WaPo) Biden replaces Ron Bloom, USPS board chair and key DeJoy ally, on postal board
Quick 5 min video: Samantha Bee Full Frontal: We Need to Save the Postal Service–Here is How We Do It! Sam has covered this quite a bit over the past 18 months.
Edmund Dantes
@schrodingers_cat: do me a favor. Show me where I predicted doom? All I am doing is not celebrating a victory that hasn’t happened yet.
Especially when we have a McCain cosplayer in the Senate. I haven’t said anything about whether it will or won’t pass.
I simply said to the two biggest assholes in the senate don’t fuck it up.
and it makes no sense to celebrate a victory when if Sinema wakes up and decides she really want to make the McCain cosplay real can crash the bike before we’ve crossed the line and actually won a victory.
I’ve never doubted Pelosi’s ability to get this done, but unfortunately she doesn’t matter now. I wish she did.
Another Scott
@Edmund Dantes: Pelosi (at least partially) controls who is going to be on a Conference Committee if the Senate passes a different bill. She matters up until the instant Biden signs it.
Cheers,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
@Edmund Dantes: You didn’t say it in so many words but you did imply it and again admonished those celebrating this key step in the passage of the bill, passing the House.
It makes no sense to celebrate a victory when if Sinema wakes up and decides she really want to make the McCain cosplay real can crash the bike before we’ve crossed the line and actually won a victory.
In your own words its wrong to celebrate a positive step in anticipation of an impending loss. I call it defeatism you call it reality.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Anyway
@schrodingers_cat:
Huh. That comment didn’t strike me as negative or “doomsday’ at all.
Betty
@JimO: $400,000.
NotMax
@Another Scott
I wouldn’t expect a conference committee. Whatever changes pass in the Senate under reconciliation will instead be re-introduced and passed as is in the House.
Betty
@Geminid: He said it was because it didn’t tax the rich enough which seemed disingenuous to those who know about these things.
MisterForkbeard
@Old School: Neat! She’ll have about an hour to end the patriarchy. Looking forward to it.
Leto
@MisterForkbeard: I wonder what she’ll do with the other 59 minutes? The possibilities!!!
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The part about the Gettysburg Address is great!
The Thin Black Duke
@schrodingers_cat: Word.
Woodrow/asim
The reason the GOP celebrated the House passing the ACA was that they moved the ball forward, and in a public manner that got them notice and column inches. It signaled to their followers that they were serious about repeal, and put that seriousness up as front-page/evening news. In other words, it was exactly the kind of messaging stuff so many people here, and elsewhere, say we Democrats fail to do.
Yes, the GOP assumed, wrongly, they had the votes. Yet it’s a matter of public record that it was a late-minute campaign by Democratic leadership that pushed McCain to vote “no”. Without that, it’s likely the ACA repeal would have gone thru, and it was surely what the GOP side had in mind, with the celebration on the House end.
We Democrats, living in the real world, have no such blasé assumptions. Nor will the reporting fail to mention the challenges we’ve seen, on the Senate side over the last few months. These celebrations are not occurring in a vacuum, bereft of context.
We have a win. Announcing we have a win, can put wind in the sails on the Senate side. I’m pretty damn sure Pelosi knows this far better than you or I, and much like how she locked down the Impeachment reactions to present a somber affect, she has gamed out this public presentation as advantageous to the bill’s chances of passing.
Betty Cracker
Since no one asked, here’s my personal opinion: this is a blog where many crabby and/or opinionated Dems discuss politics, among other things. It’s not a primal doom scream therapy group. And it’s not a positive affirmations group either. So, if someone wants to speculate on how Manchin and Sinema may fuck up the House bill in the Senate, that’s okay. If someone wants to lead cheers for the House Dem caucus, that’s okay too.
Given our broad mission, I also think it’s okay (if tedious) if the former group wants to complain about the latter — or vice versa — in every goddamn thread. Just thought this was worth sharing because sometimes folks react to topical comments in an open thread as if a squadron of wanton strumpets invaded a Junior Opus Dei purity pledge ceremony and started stripping.
H.E.Wolf
@Omnes Omnibus: ”@Edmund Dantes: The bill has not passed the Senate. We know that. This was still an important step in the process. There is nothing the fuck wrong with recognizing that fact and celebrating it.”
If we need an historical precedent, both VE Day and VJ Day were celebrated. :)
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s a process.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
// :)
H.E.Wolf
@p.a.:
@Leto:
Hooray ! ! ! ! !
Geminid
@Betty: I did not say the vote was justified. And I’m sure Golden will find disingenuous ways to justify his vote, rather than just saying “trump won my district by 28,000 votes and I want to win again in 2022.”
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: You have a way with words, but I am curious who is the strumpet and who is Opus Dei in your comment.
BTW Badger needs a kitteh!
RaflW
Quevin got roundly mocked for hours and hours, looks like a buffoon and a kook, and pushed the vote into the morning getting-ready-for-work hours.
He’s quite the tactician!
Woodrow/asim
As someone who knows a few strippers, that would be welcome :)
As someone who does that kind of calling-out? Yeah, I’m guilty as changed. When I do speak out, I try to make it in service of actually breaking discussions into other directions I don’t oft-see covered, here.
My response to E.D.’s post is an example. I get their motive, I really do. It’s just that I think it lacks historical context, on top of the impact on readers. I try to critique from that POV so t’s not just “I disagree with the emotional content,” but also point out that the logic of their approach doesn’t hold up to what we’ve seen in the past, when this was done.
And — as happened last night — I strive to be open to being wrong, and accepting that with grace. I can get really emotional about topics, myself, and indeed I’ll be honest in saying the root of why I’m here, is an emotional attachment to the code idea of Progressivism, and this space tends to (mostly…) match that with a pragmatic nature to politics, that I enjoy reading.
Some days I don’t make it that far, and it’s fair to call me, or others, other when we’re obstinate in the face of raw facts, too. :)
PJ
@Betty Cracker:
Forwarding this one to the scriptwriters.
Cameron
I’ll confess I was one of the doom-sayers, but I think things are looking pretty good. Sure, Manchin may demand a few more ounces of flesh, and I’m not thrilled that Sinema is so Yertle-curious, but whatever we wind up with will shape a better country than we had before.
Old School
@PJ:
While the last Borat movie didn’t do exactly that, it was in the same spirit.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, what is the physics behind explosions from deep-frying turkeys?? Glad you asked. Phys.org:
Now you know!
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cameron: I agree with your current assessment. I’ve just been arguing it for a while. Now, counting chickens and all that…. We aren’t there yet, but I like our chances.
Tony Jay
With sexy results.
Also I agree with your point. Room for all kinds of differing opinions on the issues of the day around here. Some people thinks it’s relevant and worth keeping in mind that the onus for passing the bill now falls upon those two corkscrew-witted egonovas of celebrity centrism in the Senate, some people… don’t.
Big Tent, comes with clowns.
lowtechcyclist
@Omnes Omnibus:
You’d better put all your eggs in one basket,
you’d better count your chickens before they hatch…
Just don’t go telling a lot of people what we’ve done for them, before we’ve actually done it, okay?
The Dems have a big enough problem already with promising to do X, Y, and Z if they win, and then not doing it for reasons (sometimes the filibuster, sometimes not) that aren’t at all clear to your average low-info voter. Telling them we have done X, Y, and Z, and then having it turn out that we aren’t able to do them after all, would be even worse IMHO.
Brantl
@Chris:
RaflW
You’ll almost never find me quoting Dick Cheney. But he wryly noted that Ronald Reagan proved that in politics, “deficits don’t matter”. And with BBB whatever tiny impact +/- really won’t matter.
As far as that Mainer’s vote goes, it’s like Adam said yesterday: They’re gonna attack him anyway for being a ‘Nancy Pelosi liberal’ but he’s made it harder to argue to his constituents that he is delivering life-changing policies like covered hearing aides, affordable insulin or child care while parents work.
But Maine is a weird place, politically, it seems. One of the few states on my to-do list, though it won’t be to learn about why they keep Mme. Collins around. Gimme lobster and quaint craggy fishing villages, and then I’m out.
Omnes Omnibus
@lowtechcyclist: Okay, we have made some progress toward passing the bill (this process may or may not be halted in the Senate). So any of you who may be concerned that the Democrats are not getting anything should continue to be concerned because nothing matters but the final passage of the bill and even then it will be smaller than we wanted so we should mutter about it and then be surprised when we don’t get any bump in the polls as the GOP continues to demonize anything we do.
Is that better?
Cameron
@Omnes Omnibus: As Senator Gump observed, “My momma used to say the Build Back Better Act is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
Ohio Mom
Sigh. I was doing a really good job of ignoring this whole thing until just now when I learned BBB passed in the House.
Guess I’m back on the emotional roller coaster — for our country yes, for the sake of Biden’s presidency but also because some of the programs would help my family quite a bit.
RaflW
@Brantl: “a bottomless hole of narcissism”
His daughter is a chip off the ol’ block, huh.
Brachiator
@lowtechcyclist:
I disagree with this on many levels.
First of all, Democrat voters vary so widely that many of them don’t agree with all the promises. And in 2020, there was a lot of voting to get rid of Trump without regard to Democratic Party policies.
Second, activist Democrats often care more about this stuff than supposed low-information voters, who don’t follow the ins and outs of detailed policy.
But Biden is smart enough to focus on some key things. Activists and pundits like to get into the weeds about infrastructure and other stuff. But Biden says that he is going to improve the economy and create good, well paying union jobs. Even if voters only hear jobs, that is enough for them.
There is much work that the Democrats need to do that may not have even been mentioned in policy and platform proposals.
A lot of what the average citizen wants comes down to “work together, don’t fuck things up and make my life easier.” Details don’t matter.
zhena gogolia
Yutsano
@Ohio Mom: I’m looking at it this way: the Democrats have already passed an amazing piece of legislation that will help our adults, for the most part. Now they’re looking to take care of the children and close some gaps. I really do think we’ll get something out of the Senate. Whether it’s worth a damn or a dog’s breakfast has yet to be determined. But it’s going to happen. I’m personally excited.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: I don’t think low information voters hear about any of the stuff we debate about here. Most will only become aware of BBB bill provisions months from now when they themselves are affected.
I did a mini-survey last week about a hot topic here. I was doing a chimney repair job for my friend Stephanie, and I asked her what she thought of “AOC.” “Who’s that?” she asked. “Her full name is Alexanderia Ocasio-Cortez,” I said, “and she’s famous.” Stephanie said, “Oh, I have heard of her. What’s she famous for?”
Stephanie votes every election, and votes Democratic. No one who knows her would put her down as just a low information voter. She is a very competent middle manager with good people skills and a boatload of common sense. She just has other interests besides politics.
Brantl
@Chris:
@schrodingers_cat: You don’t seem to know the difference between him implying it and you inferring it. You inferred it, apparently erroniously.
PPCLI
@Geminid: This, this, this.
The 2017 tax cut bill was an exercise in vindictiveness: the Republicans did everything they could to punish Democratic states, and target Democratic constituencies. The SALT cap was just one example. Targeting graduate stipends and counting tuition waivers as income was another. (Fortunately that one didn’t make it.)
sixthdoctor
@Cameron: I tend towards doomsaying as well. But since the Republican party platform is now explicitly higher insulin prices, forced birth, and transmitting COVID for starters, it seems like Dems can run on that message.
If half of this country are assholes enough to vote for Republicans anyway, then all we can do is hunker and prepare for the help which will be needed via charity.
Betty Cracker
@Woodrow/asim: Nothing wrong with offering a counterpoint to what you perceive as unwarranted pessimism. That’s part of the give-and-take that makes this place amusing and instructive. My point is there’s nothing inappropriate about making negative comments, especially when they are on topic and in an open thread. Eeyores AND Tiggers are welcome, IMO.
Brachiator
@Woodrow/asim:
I don’t know. This explanation seems a bit convoluted.
Also, the supposed GOP messaging came down to a bunch of lies.
Trump and various GOP lackeys promised repeal and replace. They promised that they would protect pre-existing conditions. They promised that their bill would be better.
The GOP were disciplined. But this was all a bunch of lies.
The GOP got media attention. But this was all a bunch of lies.
The GOP would have been happy to repeal the ACA and leave it at that. They would have come up with a new set of lies about how they had saved America.
But it would have all been a bunch of lies.
Who needs that kind of messaging? It’s easy, but empty.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: There is also nothing inappropriate about making positive comments.
Ruckus
@schrodingers_cat:
When haven’t they done that?
They hide it under the guise of embracing money as their main issue but it’s always been there. The money is the car they drive to the convention with the pointy white hats.
Kay
@Barbara:
We have prek for 4 year olds as part of the public system where I live and it is wildly popular. Wasn’t controversial at all either- they added it when we built a new school. The assumptions are changing- the assumption now is they start at 4. But it’s important there be middle and even upper middle class buy-in, or it’s a poor people program and always and forever vulnerable and perceived as lower quality or less desirable.
I paid for high quality private prek at a time I could barely afford it and I would have been thrilled with a public school program. It was inconvenient too- it was geared to families with one parent at home so had out of sync drop off and pick up times.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Heretic!
:)
Subsole
@schrodingers_cat:
I think they’re busy caping for Rittenhouse, or some shit.
Alce_e_ardillo
Now there’s something I could watch!
Quantumman
@Betty Cracker: Such an invasion is a great idea for a novel or movie plot. See if you can get funding.
topclimber
@schrodingers_cat: I saw this about the Indian farmer’s strike, too. I know you don’t think much of Modi, but do you trust his promise?
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
I know I shouldn’t have but I laughed out loud at that.
A very nice stop complaining rant.
I think that we get comfortable when we find a place we like and we – humans – begin to take possession of the place and time. It isn’t right or necessarily fair but it does seem to be human nature. In public places we have to be careful about that because that comfort isn’t necessarily real nor earned.
topclimber
@Omnes Omnibus: Also, for all the nitpickers, I suggest you call something a bill until both houses endorse it and the President signs it. Then it becomes a law, not a bill.
IOW, keep talking about what’s in the bill, everyone else.
schrodingers_cat
@topclimber: The farmers will continue the agitation till the laws are actually repealed in the parliament.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I am sure this thread is dead, but I am just getting back to it.
I want to marry this comment.