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Senate Democrats Outsmart Bad Bipartisanship? - YouTube
Channel: The Young Turks
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Senate Republicans have blocked
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a procedural vote on the bipartisan
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infrastructure bill because,
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of course, they have.
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But this might actually be a good
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thing according to David Daven from
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The American Prospect.
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We'll get to him in just a minute.
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But first, some important details
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on what occurred today.
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So, Senate Majority Leader, Chuck
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Schumer, pushed for a procedural
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vote in order to begin debate on
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the bipartisan infrastructure bill,
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which as you guys know,
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I have huge problems with.
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It appears that the bill isn't even
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written.
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But the whole point was to begin
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the debates on what will be in
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the final version of
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the bipartisan bill.
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But Senator Rob Portman,
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a Republican, said no,
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we're not ready.
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We're just not ready, and
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we're going to block this effort.
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Now, in order for
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the procedural vote to pass,
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you need at least 60 senators in
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the Senate to vote in favor of it.
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Of course, we didn't have enough
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Republican lawmakers to do it.
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And so, here's Senator Portman
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explaining why it is that
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Republicans blocked this bill.
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They're not going to go ahead with
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reconciliation no matter what Joe
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and his allies were.
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>> And I know we
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understand this too.
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>> But wait a second,
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is that why there's vote today?
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They want to be able to say that
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you didn't vote for it so
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they had to go ahead with budget
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reconciliation.
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>> Yeah, I mean, what they'd like
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to do is be able to say, today,
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that we're not supporting it.
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We are, we just want time to get
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it right.
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It's too important for
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us to rush a vote here for
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an arbitrary deadline.
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So today, we're not going to be
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able to support moving forward.
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We will be able to on Monday,
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and I hope that's what the majority
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leader decides to do is to, but
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this vote off on Monday.
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If he doesn't, he'll offer the vote
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again on Monday, I believe, and
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we'll be ready to go.
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>> I mean, our Senate Republicans
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and Senate Democrats going to work
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real hard throughout the weekend,
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and then they can vote on this on
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Monday.
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Like what?
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I was confused.
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What is going on?
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Well, David Daven did a good job
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breaking this down.
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And remember, guys, the bipartisan
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infrastructure bill is different
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from the reconciliation bill.
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The reconciliation bill will spend
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about $3.5 trillion
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assuming that it passes.
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And it is expected to pass, I mean,
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I'm being very generous in the way
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I'm describing it.
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But the intention is to
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pass the more robust infrastructure
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bill as a separate stand-alone bill
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through reconciliation,
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which just requires a simple
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majority in the Senate, rather than
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the 60 senators necessary under
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the legislative filibuster.
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So, Schumer on Monday pushed
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the legislative process forward
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even though the bill has yet
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to be written by filing a motion to
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proceed with a shell bill that he
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can later
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swap the infrastructure text into.
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On Tuesday,
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Schumer rejected Republican calls
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to slow down the process.
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Now, to invoke cloture,
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just to reiterate.
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Again, to invoke cloture and
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trigger hours of debate
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in the Senate, Schumer needs
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the support of 60 senators in
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a chamber that is divided 50-50
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between Republicans and Democrats.
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So, since we didn't have enough
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Republicans to vote in favor
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of this, they blocked it, right?
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Now, why is this?
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What is the tactic?
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David Daven explains writing that
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seen from one angle, the Schumer
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gambit of calling a vote,
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while met with seething anger from
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Republicans, absolutely worked.
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What? How?
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Negotiation over the final pieces
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of the Portman-Sinema bill, and
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that is bipartisan bill,
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weren't going anywhere until
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Schumer called the vote, and
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the bluff of Republican senators.
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We're now on a path where senators
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are talking
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about wrapping up next Monday.
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That wasn't going to happen without
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a deadline.
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So, essentially, what Daven is
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arguing here is that Chuck Schumer
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smartly pushed for a tactic that
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would actually lead to a deadline
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on the negotiation process or
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the debate on this bill, right?
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So, they're going to do
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this vote on Monday.
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It's likely that they'll get
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the Republicans to play along.
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And that's good news because we
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need to figure out what the final,
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and this is important,
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reconciliation bill will entail.
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And remember, these are two bills
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that are supposed to kind of work
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together.
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So, let me explain that.
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Schumer also needed to get clarity
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on Portman-Sinema, again, that's
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the bipartisan infrastructure bill,
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before crafting the vehicle for
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the reconciliation package.
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Right now,
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the package stands at 3.5 trillion,
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but the expectation is that,
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if Portman-Sinema falls apart,
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which is still likely to happen by
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the way, the new spending in
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the reconciliation bill would be
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folded in,
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pushing the figure to 4.1 trillion.
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So, in other words,
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if Republicans are going to stall,
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if Republicans are going to block
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the bipartisan effort to pass
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an infrastructure bill, Democrats
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are getting ready to bake in parts
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of the bipartisan infrastructure
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bill into the final reconciliation
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bill, which I think is smart.
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And I think it's necessary.
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In fact, if it were up to me,
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I probably wouldn't have
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even bothered with
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Republicans to begin with.
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But my guess is that Democrats
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want to show a good faith effort in
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working with Republicans reaching
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across the aisle.
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And this is their effort maybe to
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show Americans that it's nearly
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impossible to work with
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Republicans, they have no interest.
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Now, it is important to drill down
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the spending for the reconciliation
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bill, and this tactic does just
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that as David Daven explains.
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You have to make the headspace for
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that in the budget resolution,
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which instructs the reconciliation
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process with top line numbers that
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set the limit for spending.
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If the Senate passed a $3.5
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trillion budget resolution,
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they couldn't fold
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in the outstanding money from
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the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
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So, its fate needs to be clear
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ahead of the budget vote.
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You guys see what's happening here?
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So, it's gotten to a point where
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Democrats are either they're
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going to work with us or
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they're not.
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And this is their last chance.
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If they're not going to work
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with us, we're moving on.
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And we're drafting this
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reconciliation bill with everything
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we need, including provisions from
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the bipartisan infrastructure bill
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that we'd like to include
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in the final reconciliation bill.
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Now, I do also want to just give
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you a little more detail into how
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unlikely it is that the bipartisan
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bill is going to pass,
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because they can't agree on the so
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called pay force.
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How are you going to pay for it?
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Now, Biden said, listen, why don't
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we spend about $80 million on
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funding the IRS to ensure
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that they catch these high income
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earner tax evaders and cheats.
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And that is supposed to bring us
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a pretty significant return on the
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investment, at least, $100 billion.
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But Republicans don't want that.
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On substance, Portman-Sinema,
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the bipartisan bill, has gotten
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worse with each passing day.
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First, there was the inevitable
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Republican pullout of
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the investment in IRS enforcement.
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A political party that
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has dedicated itself to starving
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the IRS of revenue was highly
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unlikely to green-light
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$40 billion for that agency.
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So, Biden and
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the Democrats caved a little bit,
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and said, okay, fine,
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instead of 80 million,
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can we do 40 million?
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And Republicans are like,
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no, no, no, no.
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Our corporate donors don't
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want that.
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They don't want to have to worry
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about being audited if they're
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dodging their taxes or
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evading their taxes.
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And as always,
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conservative Democrats are serving
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as an obstacle because democratic
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moderates are apparently so
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focused on getting a deal that
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they're allowing the GOP to chip
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away at the substance.
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And again, we're talking about
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the bipartisan deal.
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And even that hasn't guaranteed
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passage.
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So, if this is a real sign
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that Democrats are finally
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on their way to passing one robust
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reconciliation bill that includes
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the private infrastructure,
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not private, includes
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the physical infrastructure along
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with the human infrastructure.
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Fantastic.
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But Daven asks another
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question that I think is incredibly
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important.
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Are they also going to bake in
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assuming the bipartisan
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infrastructure bill fails?
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The pretty toxic and
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awful provisions of that bill into
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the reconciliation bill.
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Because remember, one of the things
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that's been floating around is
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the idea of selling off
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$100 billion worth of public
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infrastructure to private companies
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in order to raise money to pay for
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other infrastructure projects.
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I think that that's horse crap.
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And I don't think that they should
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sign on to that under any
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circumstance.
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And, of course, I'm talking
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about Democrats here.
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They should reject that at any and
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all costs.
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We don't know what the final
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reconciliation bill is
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going to look like.
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We don't know if the final
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reconciliation bill is going to
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pass even with all the provisions
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that we want because we still have
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to deal with the Manchin's,
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and the Sinema's, and
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the Warner's in the Senate.
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The corporate Democrats who are
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bought off by the same corporate
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donors as the Republican senators.
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So, while this might be a smart
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strategy by Schumer, and maybe
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Democrats in the Senate are headed
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in the right direction, there
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are still obstacles in the way.
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And the remaining question for
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me is, what are Democrats going to
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do to strategize?
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What strategy are they going to use
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to apply pressure to the corporate
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Democrats in the Senate to ensure
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that every single
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one of them is on board to vote yes
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on the reconciliation bill?
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Until they answer that question,
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everything else is just fun talk.
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They need to get it done.
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And the way to do that is to ensure
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that Manchin, Sinema, Warner, and
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all the other corporate Democrats
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go along with what we need.
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And that is a robust infrastructure
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bill that focuses on public,
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physical infrastructure, along
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with human infrastructure like
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funding for health care, expansion
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of Medicare, you have money and
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funding for elder care, child care.
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These are things that we need.
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And if Democrats get it done,
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I promise you, that's going to have
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a far larger impact on unity than
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anything else that Biden can do.
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So, we'll see how it all plays out.
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And, of course, we'll fill you guys
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in as we get the updates for
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