How Conservatives Are Using Afghanistan To Destroy Biden's Domestic Agenda
Gottheimer is a corrupt, slimy, Wall Street-owned scumbag. He and the other Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party want to slash the reconciliation bill-- maybe not as badly as the Republicans want to slash it... but plenty badly. With Biden being hammered by the very bipartisan military industrial complex and their media allies and weakened because of Afghanistan, Republicans and conservative Democrats are making their move to undercut the domestic agenda his administration has put forward.
This morning, the crew over at PunchBowl News reported that Pelosi is charging ahead with the budget despite opposition from the Republican wing of his party. "Next week," they wrote in their newsletter, "is a pivotal moment" for Biden’s domestic agenda as the House prepares to vote on the $3.5 trillion budget resolution. "Passing that measure-- which passed the Senate on party line 50-49 vote Aug. 11-- will allow Democratic congressional leaders to start assembling a massive reconciliation bill this fall that includes big chunks of Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan (some pro-Democratic groups are calling this the “American Jobs and Families Plan” now). Combined with the $1 trillion Senate bipartisan infrastructure bill, this would be an enormous legislative win for Biden and the Democrats, one that the president and party bosses hope saves their embattled Hill majorities in 2022."
By Punchbowl's count, Pelosi doesn't have the votes to pass it. Pelosi doesn't bring bills to the floor that she can't pass. The Blue Dogs-- particularly Gottheimer, Kurt Schrader (OR), Henry Cuellar (TX), Jared Golden (ME), Vicente Gonzalez (TX), Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA), Jim Costa (CA), Ed Case (HI) and Luis Correa (CA), plus New Dem Filemon Vela (TX)-- are saying they will tank the bill if Pelosi moves ahead with her plan to pass both the hard and soft infrastructure bills together. McCarthy (and McConnell) can hardly hold their glee in check.
But, Punchbowl reported that "Pelosi isn’t backing down on her plan to bring the bipartisan infrastructure bill up for a vote only after the Senate passes the reconciliation bill, which will be sometime Dems in the House "are demanding a vote on the infrastructure bill now, asserting they won’t vote for the budget resolution until infrastructure passes. They’re in a showdown now... [Pelosi] is planning to bring up the rule for the budget resolution early next week. She has offered to have that rule spell out the floor debate for both measures as a concession" to the anti-working class right-wing fringe of the House Democrats which isn't budging on their demands.
Pelosi, PunchBowl reports, is daring the corrupt conservatives like Gottheimer, Cuellar and Schrader to vote against the budget resolution, and the rest of the House Democratic leadership is with her. "It is essential that we show results," Pelosi told other House Democratic leaders during a call on Monday night, according to a source familiar with the discussions "This is no time for amateur hour," pointedly referring to Gottheimer. "Pelosi is clearly trying to isolate Gottheimer and his crew and lay the blame at their feet." She added "For the first time America’s children have leverage. I will not surrender that leverage."
Blue America has resuscitated our Primary A Blue Dog ActBlue page and we're working with several candidates who are preparing campaigns against the worst of these scumbags. Please use the link above or the thermometer on the left to start supporting the progressive candidates brave enough to start taking on the often thankless task of challenging fake Democrats in blue districts, who, almost inexplicably, always have support from the status quo-wedded DCCC no matter how much they do to harm the Democratic agenda and to the party brand.
The Senate doesn't have a formal Blue Dog coalition but it certainly has some rotgut conservative Democrats gumming up the works. Until Schumer plucked Kyrsten Sinema out of the House and put her in the Senate, for example, she was the chair of the Blue Dogs and the single most conservative Democrat in the House. Today, former state Senator Erica Smith is running for the open U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina but first she has to win the primary against two status quo establishment Democrats. Last year, Schumer torpedoed Erica's campaign on behalf of a similar status quo Democrat, who went on to lose a winnable Senate seat and about whom Schumer said-- after it was too late-- that he couldn't keep his fly closed. Listen to Erica newest video and please consider contributing to her campaign here.