timschochet
Footballguy
Riding high at the moment- 60% popularity, Covid relief bill done with 70% support. So what now? He’s got a lot of choices:
Infrastructure Probably the most obvious because he has the best shot of getting it done without tearing up the filibuster. Still, three problems remain: (1) Republicans want tax breaks and grants to private companies and let them do most of the work, while Democrats want the government to handle the heavy duty (2) Republicans oppose anything that is too much of Green New Deal (3) Republicans may end up opposing in the end simply because it is good for them, politically, to oppose Democrats.
Immigration Reform Color me skeptical but I don’t see this happening as much as I would personally love it. You need to break the filibuster and I don’t think they break it over this, not when you may lose centrists. It’s the main reason Trump got elected in 2016: Americans, both Democrat and Republican, simply don’t want to “reward” people who broke the law coming here. That’s not the way I look at it but it’s the way the public does, unfortunately. I think Biden raised this issue knowing it won’t go anywhere but so he can tell activists, “see we tried”. If I’m wrong I’ll be happily surprised.
John Lewis Voting Rights Act Largely a process bill but it’s the one that scares Republican insiders the most and the one bill they will try to move Heaven and Earth to defeat. They KNOW that making it easier for minorities and poor people to vote means electoral doom for the GOP, so they have to restrict this as much as they can. Will the Dems break the filibuster to get this done?
George Floyd Bill Ends chokeholds, reforms police. Conservatives are casting it as “defund police”. No idea where this goes.
Biden has also promised during his campaign to move on gun control and climate change, but no specific legislation has been offered yet.
Thoughts?
Infrastructure Probably the most obvious because he has the best shot of getting it done without tearing up the filibuster. Still, three problems remain: (1) Republicans want tax breaks and grants to private companies and let them do most of the work, while Democrats want the government to handle the heavy duty (2) Republicans oppose anything that is too much of Green New Deal (3) Republicans may end up opposing in the end simply because it is good for them, politically, to oppose Democrats.
Immigration Reform Color me skeptical but I don’t see this happening as much as I would personally love it. You need to break the filibuster and I don’t think they break it over this, not when you may lose centrists. It’s the main reason Trump got elected in 2016: Americans, both Democrat and Republican, simply don’t want to “reward” people who broke the law coming here. That’s not the way I look at it but it’s the way the public does, unfortunately. I think Biden raised this issue knowing it won’t go anywhere but so he can tell activists, “see we tried”. If I’m wrong I’ll be happily surprised.
John Lewis Voting Rights Act Largely a process bill but it’s the one that scares Republican insiders the most and the one bill they will try to move Heaven and Earth to defeat. They KNOW that making it easier for minorities and poor people to vote means electoral doom for the GOP, so they have to restrict this as much as they can. Will the Dems break the filibuster to get this done?
George Floyd Bill Ends chokeholds, reforms police. Conservatives are casting it as “defund police”. No idea where this goes.
Biden has also promised during his campaign to move on gun control and climate change, but no specific legislation has been offered yet.
Thoughts?
