Democrats are in a really different place: “The DNA of Republicans,” is that they have tended “to overuse power; the DNA of Democrats is that they have tended to underuse power, and I think that’s changing.”
from my new column on Biden's go-big moment: https://t.co/nDpNBHFRiC
— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) April 2, 2021
Here’s hoping
Didn’t Barry end the “hope” thing. Also “change.” Biden’s infrastructure plan has been pared down from the $7T he floated as a candidate to $2T. Just like the $2K facsimile checks displayed in the Georgia Senate runoff suddenly became $1400. The $15 minimum wage promise disappeared from the Cares act because God (the parlimentarian) decreed on stone tablets that thou shalt not use reconciliation just because I say so. And our VP meekly said, “So be it, let it be done.” Dems are backing off extending the child tax credit which they previously promised was a done deal. And “moderate” dems are promising to vote against the infrastructure bill if it raises taxes, especially for their millionaire buddies. Pelosi says repeal of Trump’s SALT deduction cap is on the table, further benefiting the wealthy on both coasts.
Meanwhile, we now see photos of up to 600 children sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor wrapped in foil blankets who are jammed into “dorms” built for 50 or so. How long does it really take to set up some tents with toilets and showers and hire some bilingual social workers and nurses? Tensions with China and Russia continue to escalate caused by US hegemonic posturing. And now Biden’s AGSEC proposes the administration move quickly to reconstitute and rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership under fast-track, which basically eliminates debate of a treaty negotiated in secret to benefit large corporations and send more jobs offshore.
Biden has done some good things (environment, CARES Act, etc.), but I’m just hoping the Biden adm will be better that the last guy’s on balance, although it appears that on foreign, military and trade policy it may be somewhat worse. The big overriding question remains whether Dems will have the insight and the balls to get rid of or substantially change the filibuster. But that would obviate the Dems traditional plaintive cry of, “OH, Woe is us, we tried but there was nothing we could do.”
Real, substantial health care reform and the child tax credit are still out there, Joe. Not to mention infrastructure needs that far, far exceed $2T.