It also may be the Democrats domestic high water mark.
All the more important that the president went big (I wrongly thought perhaps a little too big), heard out Republicans who weren t interested in what was needed, and with skillful congressional leaders kept remarkable unity within the disparate Democratic caucuses; it was backed by the ultra-liberal Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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The $1.9 trillion measure will get the country back sooner to near normal, after the pandemic scourge, expedite school openings and accelerate an economic boom in the second half of this year. It will ease the sufferings of those millions still out of work, take 13 million out of poverty, and could cut child poverty in half.
The GOP will do anything to distract Americans from the Biden’s administration’s immediate and aggressive response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ailing economy.
The Republican battle plan is to bring cultural issues to a high boil. They will likely continue to demonize and denigrate immigrants. The party will likely also play the cultural wild card with attacks on a corporate decision to blacklist old Dr. Seuss books and Hasbro’s decision to drop the “Mr.” and “Mrs.” designations from the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head toys. This is a thin gruel to Americans hungry for recovery.
This diversion didn’t work in the last midterm election in 2018 and it won’t work in 2022. Back then, Republicans failed to develop a response to the public cry for better health care by attempting to scare Americans about a mythical massive caravan of immigrants approaching the Mexican border. On Election Day, the Republican Party lost control of the House. The national exit poll demonstrate
With action in the Senate normally tightly controlled, vote-a-ramas represent one of the few chances senators get to force votes. A vote-a-rama earlier this month on the budget resolution which teed up the COVID-19 relief bill attracted more than 800 amendments, with debate starting in the afternoon and lasting until after 5 a.m.
But most of the amendments during that debate were nonbinding, making them little more than political messaging. The stakes are raised in the upcoming debate, as any successful amendments would change the bill and force it back to the lower chamber.
“I think you got a little bit of a preview, but the budget resolution isn’t law. . This will be, so I think you can expect a robust amendment process,” said Cornyn.