How difficult is it to get 535 congressmen and senators to spend a trillion bucks? All senators have a little Bob Byrd in him and her. Bringing home the bacon gets your name on highways, bridges, courthouses, and buildings. Woo-hoo.
Surprisingly, Joe Biden cannot pull it off.
Despite the best efforts of Republican Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Biden turned down a trillion-dollar compromise.
A confused Associated Press sputtered in a headline, "Biden ends GOP infrastructure talks, starts new negotiations."
He won't negotiate with Republicans, so who are these new guys he is going to negotiate with? Whigs? Mugwumps? The Taliban?
AP wrote, "The president is walking away from talks with lead Republican negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito after the two spoke Tuesday, but would welcome her in the new bipartisan group, according to an administrative official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.
"At the same time, with anxiety running high as time slips by, Democrats are laying the groundwork to pass some or all of the ambitious package on their own. Biden conferred Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about launching the budget resolution process for Senate votes in July, the White House said."
You betcha they are worried.
Unlike a dozen years ago when Democrat majorities in the House and Senate seemed large enough to weather Obama's first midterm, Josef Biden has a 50-50 Senate and a less-than-10-votes majority in the House. Nancy Pelosi seems to be Dead House Speaker Walking.
Instead of working with Republicans, Lameduck Speaker Pelosi revved up her partisanship to 11.
Democrat senators are bailing. Joe Manchin of West Virginia threw in the towel on the Democrat F** The People election bill. He also made it clear that the filibuster is here to stay.
His colleague Capito said Biden talked to her on the phone for five minutes, and then broke off all negotiations.
Capito told Fox, "We offered the president basically what he asked us to do the first time we met with him, which was $1 trillion over 8 years, including baseline spending, and that it wouldn’t include a tax increase – and that was our red line, not his.
"The last offer that I got from the president had four tax increases in it. And it also was much closer in numbers than what the White House is putting out right now. So I’m disappointed with that."
Now this could be a bargaining tactic by him or her or both. Earlier, he tried to put a deadline on the bill, but this paving season has passed (at least as far as bids on contracts go) so a deadline is arbitrary, artificial, and dumb.
Capito said, "I just feel like we have missed a real opportunity here for at least 20 Republicans to join with the other Democrats to pass the most robust infrastructure package that we could have. And I’m still very dedicated to it and will be working through my committee to see that we at least get the legislation to back this up."
If you cannot work with Capito to get something done, I do not believe you want something to be done.
NBC reported, "The end of talks will increase pressure on Democrats to pass a sweeping package using a special process that doesn't require any Republican votes."
I suppose.
But Biden has a better chance of landing in Delaware after clicking his heels three times while chanting, "There's no place like home."
Time is slipping away from the 78-year-old president.
The AP wrote, "Democrats are watching warily as time passes and anxiety builds toward an agreement, with many lawmakers worried they are not fulfilling their campaign promises to voters who put the party in control of Congress and the White House.
"During a private discussion of Democratic senators at lunch Tuesday, there were differing views over whether they should keep talking with Republicans or pursue an approach that would allow them to pass a bill on their own, through the budget reconciliation process."
In other words, Democrats are divided.
AP said, "Schumer told reporters afterward that Democrats are pursuing 'a two-path approach.'"
The paths are in opposite directions. One leads to take-no-prisoners partisanship, the other leads to compromise.
Less than 5 months into this presidency, Biden finds his congressional agenda floundering.
In 1946, Republicans took over the House. Two years later, President Truman ran against a Do Nothing Congress and was elected to a second term.
Republicans may win Congress back by running against a Do Nothing president.
That's the article: The Do Nothing president
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