Joe Biden is going to get “unity.” He will get it even if he has to just make stuff up.
Case in point: bills proposed by a Democratic president, rammed through Congress by Democratic lawmakers, and voted on exclusively by Democrats are actually “bipartisan” according to the White House.
Biden campaigned and took office as the “unity” president. A noble aspiration, to be sure. The only problem is that no Republicans have actually voted for any of his grandiose schemes. The trillions of dollars of debt he is adding to the balance sheet is Democratic Party debt.
But the White House believes that Biden’s giveaways are popular and that many Republicans love getting government goodies just as much as Democrats. How does the White House know this?
Polls, of course.
Biden officials argue that the measures they are proposing have broad public support from members of both parties in polling, and that some of the ideas have been backed by GOP lawmakers in the past.
“Biden is taking a bet that Congress is more divided than the country and, with an ability to appeal directly to the voter on policy issues, he can circumvent a polarized Congress that will likely take a long time to get its act together in terms of working across the aisle,” said a Democratic strategist.
“It’s been overwhelmingly popular,” Biden said in Pittsburgh this week “If you live in a town with a Republican mayor, a Republican county executive, or a Republican governor, ask them how many would rather get rid of the plan. Ask them if it helped them at all. It’s what the American Jobs Plan is about — the new one I’m proposing.”
Ole’ Joe is kind of mixing up his trillion-dollar boondoggles. The infrastructure plan hasn’t helped anyone at all because it hasn’t even been formally proposed in Congress yet. The $1.9 trillion stimulus bill was extremely popular with both parties. Few people are rich enough to turn down a $1400 gift from the government.
But really, governing based on polls? It’s like a bad joke.
Asked about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) vocal opposition to the infrastructure package on Friday, Biden suggested Republican lawmakers will feel pressure from their voters to embrace his proposal, mentioning provisions that would replace lead pipes and repair veterans’ hospitals.
“I think the Republicans’ voters are going to have a lot to say about whether we get a lot of this done,” Biden told reporters.
Biden is sure to face a longer and more difficult battle getting his infrastructure and climate plan passed, however.
Republican voters are warning their members if they vote for these monstrosities they are going to walk the plank on election day. GOP members of Congress aren’t likely to feel much heat from their voters except maybe to wonder why they can’t do more to stop this craziness.
In truth, there’s not much they can do. They can delay. They can look to exploit the few divisions in the Democratic Party about some of the provisions in the bills. And they can work like hell to win back the House and Senate in 2022.
But the Democrats have the guns (so to speak) and hold the whip hand in both houses of Congress. The GOP can’t shame Joe Biden into doing anything, much less ask for their serious input on infrastructure legislation. He doesn’t care. The Democrats don’t care. They will use smoke and mirrors to try and convince voters they’re trying to be bipartisan, but those mean old Republicans won’t let them.
It would appear that 2022 can’t come soon enough.
