Nearly all media outlets, liberal and conservative, acknowledged that Joe Biden’s failure to get the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed by Congress on Thursday was an embarrassment. However, there was a change in the attitudes at PoliticoIt was ridiculously Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner! The bizarre response was evident in Friday’s Politico PlaybookTitle: “Why Joe Biden has already won.”
You won’t believe the absurdity of the text, which spins the defeat of Biden’s hopes into a huge victory. PoliticoThe spin:
BIDEN GETS IT DONE, ABOVE HIMSELF — To say Thursday was a roller coaster for President JOE BIDEN’s agenda wouldn’t do justice to how truly head-spinning the day was. The White House releases a Build Back Better (BBB) deal backed by MANCHINEMA (now they’re getting somewhere) — only to watch BERNIE SANDERS balk (never mind). The president delays his trip to Europe to rally House Democrats behind his plan — then whiffs, somehow neglecting to deliver the tough love message Democratic leaders wanted him to so they could pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill (BIF) this week.
But just when it looked like the day would end in embarrassment for Democrats, the Congressional Progressive Caucus issues a surprise endorsement of the president’s compromise plan — removing one of the last big obstacles in its way.
The CPC’s decision to back the new BBB framework got drowned out by the group’s refusal to allow a BIF vote Thursday before full text was drafted. That deprived Speaker NANCY PELOSI of the vote she was determined to hold on BIF, and yielded lots of headlines about Democrats’ failure to clinch the win.
But the dispute over sequencing masked a major achievement for the president: Hill progressives now appear ready to swallow this deal — and that means it’s likely a matter of when, not if, it passes.
The fact that the group isn’t making demands for major changes is quite something given that many of their priorities were significantly scaled back as moderates got most of what they wanted.
Ok, PoliticoIt was. You can’t deny that it was a major victory for Biden. Even liberal media outlets seemed to be less optimistic about what Biden’s failure to pass his bill would mean. One example is the Daily BeastWhich on Friday was the headline of the PoliticoBiden’s win as the Dems “Leave Biden Empty-Handed” Again after Chaotic Day on Capitol Hill
With his agenda in peril in advance of an international climate summit, President Joe Biden came to Capitol Hill on Thursday and pleaded with House Democrats to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill—to prove to the world that American democracy actually can work.
The scene inside the closed-door meeting became so earnestly patriotic and rah-rah that, in between cheers for the president, some lawmakers broke into a chant of “Vote Vote! Vote!”
The West Wing’s impromptu episodes ended when Biden left Capitol Hill and boarded Air Force One, en route to Europe. Lawmakers quickly recalled the reality of American democracy. It was chaos.
Pelosi’s leadership team also began whipping the legislation—something they didn’t do a month ago when the infrastructure bill was first supposed to pass the House.
But the whipping efforts quickly collided with the truth that there aren’t 218 Democrats ready to pass that bill without stronger assurances from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) that they would in turn pass the other plank of Biden’s agenda.
…Uncertainty remains about the next steps. According to one lawmaker, 40 Democrats would vote against the infrastructure bill if there is no agreement between Sinema and Manchin. And a statement from the Progressive Caucus reaffirmed that a number of members in that group wouldn’t vote for the infrastructure measure without stronger assurances.
The problem is, however, that the two senators everyone is waiting on don’t seem any closer to declaring their support in a firmer way. They also don’t seem to be inclined to elaborate on their positions.
It was my thought. PoliticoWe were informed that Manchinema BACKED” the “BBB” deal. Didn’t you get the word, Daily BeastWhat? “Joe Biden already won” according to the Politico cheerleaders who probably don’t want to burn their bridges to their White House spin narrators.
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