Joe Biden is all over the road on a possible deal with moderate Republicans on an infrastructure bill. On Thursday he was for it. Then Sunday against it unless a Bernie Sanders wish list also passed. Then later Sunday he was for it again. Today there are DC rumors he’s backing out. What gives? FNC analyst Chad Pergram gives us a part of the story.
Pergram on Friday: “Things seemed fine in Washington for about five minutes Thursday, when President Biden and a coalition of bipartisan senators announced a pact on an infrastructure plan. ‘No one got everything they wanted in this package,” said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., in the White House driveway. “We gave some to get some.’
‘We’ve agreed on the price tag, the scope, and how to pay for it,” said Susan Collins. “It was not easy to get agreement on all three.’ But this accord is fragile. There is no bill text yet. There is a broad set of principles and pay-fors. Some outside groups are already questioning whether the calculus adds up. We probably won’t start to see formal legislative text until early July. President Biden briefly huddled with the senators at the White House midday Thursday. It was clear that the audience with the president wasn’t another set of negotiations or even a meeting to clarify the proposal or run through particulars. Mr. Biden made a point of making a rare appearance in the White House driveway with bipartisan senators clustering around him. The president wanted to show that he was all-in with their deal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said this week he expected to dual-track the bipartisan plan, and, a partisan, expensive, $6 trillion plan which Democrats may pass on their own in July. Democrats could do this alone via the special budget reconciliation process which sidesteps filibusters.
The enterprise of trying to advance things through the Senate will likely consume more time than you expect. Astrophysicists often describe how black holes warp time in outer space. The same is true on Capitol Hill. If they say it will take a month, expect six weeks. That’s just kind of how the congressional time arrow bends. So this may bleed well into August. That said, there is talk about the House advancing this bill in July. But frankly, if the House is going to wait on the Senate, the House may not really crank on anything until August. This is all contingent on how expeditiously the Senate advances the plans.” Then Bernie Sanders got into the mix.
Let me be clear: There will not be a bipartisan infrastructure deal without a reconciliation bill that substantially improves the lives of working families and combats the existential threat of climate change. No reconciliation bill, no deal. We need transformative change NOW.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 27, 2021
So Biden caved to Sanders on Sunday. Then Biden got calls from business leaders, reports go. So then he sold out Sanders and was for the deal again late on Sunday. On Monday Sanders, the Squad, and the media are hammering him for selling out Sanders and scuttlebutt says he may change his mind again. Pick a lane, Joe. Because this is just embarrassing.
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