President Biden came to office with the promise to produce the greatest economic and social legislation in American History. He jokingly called his bifurcated Infrastructure and Reconciliation bills the biggest f-ing deal ever – declaring it bigger than President Roosevelt’s New Deal and President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. He promised to “fundamentally change America.”
On the campaign trail, he was talking about an estimated $10 trillion dollars of new spending. He got the first $1.9 trillion with the unnecessary and inflation-boosting Stimulus Bill earlier this year. His $1 trillion Infrastructure Bill has gotten bipartisan support and has only been held up by the progressives in the House until they get the BIG legislation – the $3.5 trillion Reconciliation Bill.
The remainder of Biden’s $10 trillion pipedream — $3.6 trillion – never got out of the starting gate. He was never going to get an additional $3.6 trillion. In fact, he is not even getting the final $3.5 trillion he proposed.
In the spirit of never making a mistake, Biden says that he always expected to have to pare down the size (expense) of his grandiose vision. However, he wanted – and expected – to get that $3.5 trillion Reconciliation Bill through Congress. He did not expect that Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema would hold firm in their objections to the cost of the legislation and what Biden and the progressives considered their must-pass provisions.
If the Reconciliation Bill passes at all, it is likely that the price tag will be closer to Manchin’s $1.5 trillion dollar ceiling than Biden’s $3.5 trillion floor – and miles away from Senator Bernie Sanders $6 trillion demand.
Make no mistake about it. Even $1.5 or $1.9 trillion is more than is needed on top of the $2.9 trillion passed and about to be passed.
Biden will claim that ANY amount that gets to his desk as a big win for him. He has already said as much. But Biden’s and the progressives’ big plans have already come crashing down. Think about it. Biden and the Sanders’ folks wanted a series of packages worth $10 trillion. At best, they will get 15 percent of their request. They could get less than half of their $3.5 trillion hard-number request.
In terms of the Biden agenda, America is at a lose/lose position. Biden has already lost – even as he tries to make table scraps look like Thanksgiving dinner. But if the Reconciliation Bill passes in the $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion range, the American public also loses – and they will suffer it as the inflation numbers go up. And as far as Biden’s claim that it is all free … all paid for…, you would be a fool to believe that. It will impact future deficits and the National Debt.
Democrats claim that they must pass SOMETHING, or they will lose in the 2022 midterm elections. We are fast approaching a failed presidency – and the passage of this legislation is not what is likely to change that trajectory no matter how much Democrats pat their backs and beat their chests.
Biden is like a guy who goes to the casino and loses $75 of his $100 betting money – and brags that he is a winner because he comes out of the casino with $25.
So, there ‘tis.