How Biden Got the Infrastructure Deal Trump Couldn't

[TiberiusB]

7. The uncritical examination of this bill is astounding

Last edited Mon Aug 2, 2021, 01:50 AM - Edit history (2)

What are the possible reasons for a sudden leap from no GOP support for anything spearheaded by "block the Biden agenda" McConnell to a McConnell led defection of 17 Republicans to support a massive "win" for President Biden?

1.)They want to embarrass Trump.
The current presumptive nominee that the GOP has been falling over itself to embrace even now? Even if that is true, how does it hurt Trump? There's no evidence that I've seen that Trump's base was clamoring to get an infrastructure bill passed or that they wouldn't immediately be willing to blame anything and anyone for blocking him from getting what he wanted. The man was impeached TWICE for borderline treason and is still the presumed front runner for 2024.

2.)President Biden is just a masterful negotiator.
It seems like most of the negotiations involved Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. Seriously, how was Biden involved? That's a real question and not snark.

3.)Republicans need to bring home the bacon to shore up support in case their massive voter suppression efforts somehow fail.
It is an easy win for those 17 that are probably getting a little extra gravy on their pork.

4.)It's a big bipartisan f-you to the progressives.
The bipartisan fetish in the press and Washington is well documented and toxic. It essentially has come to mean "give Republicans what they want" and was a disaster under President Obama and that continues now under President Biden. This bill, should it pass, will be a huge win for obstructionist clowns like Sinema and Manchin and will immediately torpedo any hope of passing larger bills or reforming/eliminating the filibuster.

5.)It actually undermines the relief bill Biden and the Democrats already passed
Most of the financing for this bill is slated to come from "unspent" funds already allocated for unemployment and Covid relief. So this bill not only doesn't tax the rich, it hurts the poor.

6.)Say goodbye to increases in corporate tax rates or any tax increases on the rich and embrace selling off public assets to private interests (public/private "partnerships" ).
There is a reason why groups like the Chamber of Commerce are clamoring for this bill to pass.

7.)It will all collapse when it comes up for a vote.
Grab some headlines, drag things out a little bit longer, and then tank the whole thing. It's been done before.

Voters absolutely don't give a damn about bipartisanship. They want results and this bill barely scratches the surface of needed infrastructure investment and does almost nothing for the climate. If it passes, I'd worry that any attempt to pass a bigger bill through reconciliation will die or get watered down until it turns into the same corporate give away this bill is.

McConnell's support should be setting off alarms, but thread after thread seems to believe that he's either come around or is eager to somehow embarrass Trump.

With this he scores an easy win for GOP members to bring home for re-election, diffuses the push to abandon absurdly lopsided "bipartisan" negotiations that favor the minority party, protects the filibuster until 2022 when you KNOW he expects to retake Congress (and with gerrymandering and voter suppression, he likely will), at which point he is free to eliminate it himself, and he secures more waffling from Biden on voting rights as this will be held up as proof that Republicans can be reasonable.

I would love to be wrong, but my gut and all available evidence tells me this is a trap.