In the wake of the red wave that swept Republicans in and handed Democrats a disastrous message, where does that leave Joe Biden’s legislative agenda when the Democrats’ extremism has been so soundly rejected? It’s not looking good for him — more like stick a fork in it, at this point.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) said that after the election she will be further catering to extremism.
Pelosi seemed to be ignoring the warning signs and challenge Sen. Joe Manchin (D.W.Va.) to put paid family leave back in the now $1.75 trillion (by Democratic count) Build Back Better bill. The White House had ultimately removed that in their final “framework” after pressures from Manchin about costs.
“It had been my intention throughout this process to put on the House floor and pass a bill that would pass the Senate in the same form. Because I have been informed by a senator of opposition to a few of the priorities contained in our bill and because we must have legislation agreed to by the House and the Senate in the final version of the Build Back Better Act that we will send to the President’s desk, we must strive to find common ground in the legislation,” she wrote.
“As we are reviewing priorities and at the urging of many Members of the Caucus, I have asked the Ways and Means Committee for its legislation for Paid Family and Medical Leave to be included in this morning’s hearing.”
A senior Democratic aide told The Post that the provision would provide four weeks of family leave paid for, and that this is what was expected.
Manchin’s response? It shouldn’t be done through reconciliation.
“That’s the first I’m hearing of it,” Manchin told reporters. “That’s a challenge. It’s a challenging task. [top Democrats] know how I feel about thatWe are.” He said that he wasn’t against paid leave per se but said he wanted “do it in a bipartisan way.” He also said he didn’t think that the proper way to address it was through the reconciliation process. “Let’s do that in a proper [way]. We’re trying to force it through reconciliation, which has guardrails and rules and regulations. Let’s do it and do it right.”
Democratic leaders asked members of their party to inform them by Thursday about how they plan to vote.
But it wasn’t just Manchin and folks in the upper chamber of the Senate with issues.
“There needs to be some level of understanding as to whether or not this bill as written can survive the Senate procedural process, because after all, we’re using the reconciliation process so that we can get these this proposal signed into law,” Blue Dog Coalition Chair Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) told reporters.
“The infrastructure bill is ready to go. It’s been completed. It holds a CBO score. The Senate passed it in bipartisan fashion and is now ready to be adopted. I believe with all I just said about what has transpired with the BBB in the last 24-48 hours that it’s not quite ready yet. If we want to take action the action should be taken on the infrastructure vote because we’re ready for that vote.”
What does this all mean? I think it’s actually an indication that Pelosi has lost and she knows it. Pelosi took this decision after the elections, knowing full well that there is no mandate for her to make this change and she probably knows that the Build back Better bill won’t pass. So she’s throwing all caution to the wind and putting paid leave back in, knowing it and other provisions are going to make Manchin and others balk. But this way, she looks like she did all she could to the folks on the left that want those provisions and she can put the blame for the “failure” on Manchin and the moderates. You can excuse her, she said she tried everything. But the Republicans will take control of the country in 2022 and the Republicans are going to be the ones who do it all.
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