If you analyze the November 2nd off-year election properly, you will understand that the failure to enact Biden’s big bills was not the reason for the disaster that struck the Democratic Party – and especially the left-wing.
If that were the case, moderate Democrats like Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema would not be feeling empowered to hold their ground. And the moderates in the House — who won office in swing or even Republican districts – would not be so afraid of losing their seats.
Amazingly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doubling down – caving to the hard corps in her Democrat Caucus. She is adding back some of the provisions that had ben taken out because of the stances of Manchin and Sinema. By putting the provisions back into the legislation that Manchin and/or Sinema have already opposed, Pelosi will prolong the process.
She is literally demanding obedience to her iron will even if it means throwing their re-election hopes out the window of some of her members out the window. Pelosi wants a win now and damn the next Congress because it is increasingly likely that she will not run again.
Recognizing that moderate opposition has strengthened, Progressives are pulling out all stops to enact the most socialistic legislation in American history as soon as possible. Controversial legislation tends to lose power as more time goes by. We have seen that in this case. The once all-powerful Pelosi has had to repeatedly call off planned votes on the legislation.
Her plan now seems to be to send a bill to the Senate that will be unacceptable to 52 senators – more unacceptable today than it was just a few days earlier. And more unacceptable since Pelosi caved to the most extreme members of her Caucus.
Whatever passes the House will be subjected to weeks, if not months, of negotiation in the Senate. It is more likely that the Senate will send back to the House an amended version of the Pelosi bill. That means more debates between Progressives and moderate Democrats.
As we get into 2022 – and closer to the election – the pressure on moderate Democrats to water down the Biden legislation can only increase. Unless the Progressives pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill alone, it is very possible that Biden’s legislative achievements will be over.
So, there ‘tis.