The Revolution Will Be Improvised

In this case, those policies are formidable. Before Biden jetted to a major climate conference in Europe, he could tout the increasing prospects of the largest-ever U.S. investment $555 billion, or about one-third of the entire bill in clean energy, funding to establish prekindergarten programs for 3- and 4-year-olds across the country, an extension of the expanded child tax credit he and Congress created this spring, and a broad expansion of health-care programs and subsidies. Unlike a decade ago, when the public had soured on Obamacare by the time Democrats passed the bill, polls show that voters remain broadly supportive of the elements of Biden s agenda (even as a majority disapproves of the president himself). The White House desperately wanted to finish the negotiations before Biden left, so the president could tell the world that the U.S. would help lead the fight against climate change, that its embattled democracy could function. But Biden can t quite claim to have closed the deal.

While the president was describing the agreement he had reached, Democrats across the ideological spectrum were still scrambling to save their preferred policies from the scrap heap. Progressives such as Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State were once again vowing to torpedo a vote on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure legislation until the second, broader bill was ready. And Manchin and Sinema offered no assurances that they would vote for the eventual deal a pledge that appeared to be the minimum progressives needed to see before they agreed to move forward.

Biden implored House Democrats to give him their trust, and their votes. I don t think it s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week, the president said during his meeting at the Capitol. He might have spent a bit more time persuading progressives, or securing commitments from Manchin and Sinema, or hammering out the details of his hastily completed framework. But Biden s plane was waiting, and he had a flight to catch.

via www.msn.com

This is sort of how things appear to the progressives. I would guess you could say all these programs are about 25 percent well-intended. The rest is just graft, and they are about 99 percent ill-conceived. So it’s just wait and see for us little price-takers.