These Democratic Senator’s are working to cut back some President Biden’s Stimulus Bill….
They can because the Senate political power margins are so tight….
Joe Biden’s unity pleas where supposed to be for Republicans…
Now?
Who else?
In recent days, the moderates have narrowed federal stimulus payments, brokered a tentative deal to revamp future unemployment benefits, and halted a renewed effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The changes mark a break from the bill approved in the House, where lawmakers fought vigorously for their version of the stimulus out of a belief that the 2020 election had given them a mandate to deliver economic reforms that had flagged under President Donald Trump….
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“This was sort of a loose group of senators who are basically still concerned about the deficit, concerned about expenditures, and trying to ensure if we’re going to be spending $1.9 trillion that it’s directed to the people who need the most,” said Sen. Angus King, a moderate independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, when asked about the strategy.
None of the alterations so far appear to have upended broad swaths of the stimulus, and centrist Democratic lawmakers have backed off some of their more dramatic proposals, particularly to scale back one-time stimulus payments even further. Unknown is whether that dynamic will change appreciably before Senate passage of the bill, expected as soon as early Saturday morning, or final adoption by Congress in the coming days.
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The political dynamic on Capitol Hill reflects the simmering philosophical fissures within the Democratic Party in the aftermath of the election. Centrists and liberals each proclaimed ideological victories as Democrats captured the House, Senate and White House last November, creating a precarious political reality for Biden, who has preached a message of unity in his opening days in office….
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…the wrangling over coronavirus aid could prove lasting, presaging similar fights to come as Biden and his Democratic allies ready additional major economic policy initiatives, including an attempt to inject trillions of dollars into efforts to upgrade roads, bridges, utilities and broadband networks nationwide. An infrastructure overhaul threatens to reopen political rifts between liberals who believe in spending big to rejuvenate the economy and centrists who already are preaching fiscal restraint.
It’s hard for me to see Joe Manchin in West Virginia voting against an infrastructure bill. After all, one of his predecessors was Robert Byrd.
I think it might also be hard for those Senators from tight-fisted but poor Northern New England: Maine (Angus King) and New Hampshire (Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen).
It might be easier for the other 4 breakaway Democrats to vote against such a bill: Chris Coons & Tom Carper (Del.), Jon Tester (Mont.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)
Heck, it’s hard to see many lawmakers voting against money for things people can actually ‘see’ with their names on the site construction placard’s….