November 11, 2021
Until last week the Biden Build Back Better agenda was stopped dead in its tracks due to infighting among Democrats. The Progressive wing of the party refused to vote for the $1.2 trillion so-called infrastructure bill without the $4 trillion welfare expansion bill, otherwise known as the reconciliation bill, forcing President Biden to link the two bills making them a package deal.
But, thanks to 13 House Republicans, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Biden are taking a victory lap over the passing of the infrastructure bill, which Biden will sign into law on Monday. With the Democrats’ razor-thin majority in the House, if Republicans had not come to the rescue, the infrastructure bill would have been voted down, and the far-left Biden agenda would be stuck at square one.
Now the path is cleared for the Democrats to fundamentally transform the US economy with their mammoth tax and spending bill. The only power Republicans had to stop its passing evaporated with the 13 House GOP “yes” votes.
Consequently, the last hope for halting the reconciliation bill or passing a less catastrophic version appears to rest with Democrat Senators Manchin and Sinema. The only two semi-sane Democrats in the Senate are doing more to protect our nation’s future than the 13 GOP lawmakers in the House and 19 in the Senate, who voted with the Democratic party to push the infrastructure bill over the finish line, are doing.
If Republicans had extracted concessions; or used their leverage to alter the infrastructure bill, a yes vote would be understandable. However, Republicans had zero role in drafting the bill. No doubt, the Republicans who voted for the bill know little of what is in it and would object to much of the spending if presented in stand-alone bills.
According to the Wall Street Journal editorial board, only $110 billion of the $1.2 trillion is for traditional infrastructures, such as public works, roads, and bridges. As the WSJ put it, “the bill is a large down payment on the Green New Deal”. To wit $7.5 billion for electric car charging stations and $21.5 billion for a new Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.
Further, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill will add $256 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
Republicans have been soaring high since their recent electoral wins, while Biden’s approval rating has plummeted to less than 38%. Biden’s presidency has been one catastrophic failure after another. Even Democrats have turned against him. A recent poll found that 39% of respondents who voted for Biden do not want him to run for a second term.
However, Republicans who voted to pass the infrastructure bill have thrown Biden a lifeline. In return, they achieved nothing other than helping to advance the Green New Deal and improving the Democrats’ chances in 2022.
Pelosi is planning to hold a vote on the $4 trillion tax and spending bill next week. If the bill passes, she, Biden, and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer owe a debt of gratitude to the Republicans who helped make it happen.
