Republicans Reneging On The ‘Bipartisan’ Infrastructure Bill – This Was Always Their Plan

Remember when Barack Obama negotiated in good faith, ad nauseam, with Republicans to address their objections in an effort to come to a bipartisan agreement on health care reform?

This was the Mitch McConnell “rope-a-dope” strategy. Republicans did not negotiate in good faith, their plan was always to run out the clock on the Obama agenda. Despite Democrats making numerous concessions to Republicans in the hope of attracting Republican votes, in the end every Republican followed Mitch McConnell’s edict: there shall be no Republican votes for health care reform.

Mitch McConnell is playing the same “rope-a-dope” strategy again on infrastructure. He permitted a handful of Republican Senators to feign being interested in a bipartisan infrastructure deal in order to lead a handful of Democrats who subscribe to the false promise of “bipartisanship” by their noses down a blind alley.  Even President Joe Biden, who should know better from his time as Obama’s vice president, got distracted by this false promise of bipartisanship.

But Mitch McConnell has always been clear about what his game plan is: there shall be no Republican votes for an infrastructure bill. His plan has always been to run out the clock on the Biden agenda.

Democrats this time did leave themselves an out. If the bipartisan infrastructure bill fails to pass, Democrats can fold elements of the bill that they want to keep into the much larger budget reconciliation bill that they are drafting, and do it all in one bill. A budget reconciliation bill can pass without Republican votes, but it does require “bipartisan” simps like Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to come to their damn senses and to fall in line.

It is the old proverb, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

CNN reports, Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal could face key Senate GOP defections:

Several GOP senators who initially endorsed a bipartisan infrastructure deal are warning they may ultimately vote against it as it moves through the legislative process, a sign of the daunting hurdles ahead as proponents try to push the massive proposal through the evenly divided chamber by next month.

Initially, 11 Republicans [feigned] signing off on an outline of the plan, which proposed to pump nearly $600 billion in new spending for “hard” infrastructure and cost a total of $1.2 trillion over the next eight years. Getting the bill through the Senate would require at least 10 Republicans to back the measure – assuming all 50 members of the Democratic caucus stay united, which is also highly uncertain.

But five of those 11 GOP senators [have reneged] telling CNN on Monday that they are not committed to backing the bill, wary of some of the details for paying for the measure that have come to light and expressing misgivings about Democratic leaders’ plans to move the narrower bipartisan bill alongside a much-larger Democratic-only bill that would fulfill much of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.

Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican up for reelection next year, said he’s “concerned” by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plans to hold up House votes on a bipartisan deal until the Senate approves the Democratic-only bill, which could be approved by just 51 votes since it is expected to move through the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process.

“I’m not there yet,” Moran said Monday evening. “I’m still interested in working to see if we can find a quality, bipartisan infrastructure plan. I want to be involved in that engagement and effort. But I’m still troubled by the statements of Speaker Pelosi. … It doesn’t seem the right kind of negotiating tactic to say, ‘Yeah, I’ll support a bipartisan plan, only as long as I get a vote on everything else I want.’ ”

The comments underscore the delicate task that Democratic leaders face to fulfill roughly $4 trillion of Biden’s agenda to make huge investments into the nation’s infrastructure and expand the social safety net. An influential contingent of moderate Democrats say they won’t back a large Democratic-only bill without trying to move a bipartisan bill first. Yet a vocal bloc of liberals refuse to back a narrow bipartisan bill without a commitment that the larger bill will be enacted.

So Pelosi drew a firm line late last month: “There ain’t going to be no bipartisan bill, unless we have a reconciliation bill.”

[Of] the 11 Republican senators who announced they were supporting a bipartisan infrastructure framework in June, a number say they have serious concerns about whether their proposal could be held hostage until Democrats complete their own party-line bill that will include massive social policy revisions on child care and sick leave and an extension of the boosted child tax credit. That bill is expected to make sweeping changes to the tax code on the personal and business side and raise the corporate tax rate.

Republicans have said tying the two proposals together was not part of the agreement and that the added comments from Democrats like Pelosi in the House and even the President have not been helpful to try to sell the proposal to their GOP colleagues.

LIARS! The two-track plan has always been part of the deal, and they damn well know it. They are only saying this because this is the cover story they will use to renege on the deal. These Republicans only feigned interest in a bipartisan deal in order to run out the clock, and always intended to vote against the infrastructure bill. There is no good faith from Republicans.

Beyond process, several of the GOP senators who backed the initial outline said Monday that there are real concerns about how the bill would be paid for – including a controversial provision to bolster tax collection enforcement by the IRS.

“No. No, no, no. I’m not committed or totally guaranteed on it,” Rounds said. “I want to support it, but I’m going to wait and see the final product as well, but I’m hoping that it works.”

Added Moran: “I think there needs to be constraints on what the use of those IRS agents would be. So we’re taking a look at that. That pay-for has some red flags among Republicans.”

OMG! The wealthy and corporate tax cheats might be audited and have to pay the taxes that they actually owe! Oh, the humanity! This concern trolling for tax cheats tells you everything you need to know about whom the Republican Party represents.

Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican who signed on to the framework, made clear he needs to learn more when the language is finalized and the official estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is released before he will commit to voting for it.

“Pay-fors are always a function of a little fuzzy math. So we’ll see,” the retiring GOP senator said Monday.

Burr added: “We haven’t negotiated the final language. Until that gets negotiated, there is no deal yet.”

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who also signed off on the plan but has raised concerns about the Democrats’ tactics, said: “We don’t have enough pay-fors” to finance the full package.

Because Republicans don’t believe in the wealthy and corporations having to pay taxes.

’There are lot of issues that are outstanding’

After two weeks away during the July Fourth recess, the bipartisan group is expected to meet again Tuesday, which members and aides say will be an opportunity to try to iron out key details of the bill and give them a chance to attempt to come back together after the group’s unity was tested in recent weeks.

“We’re going to have to spend the time and energy to deal with all the issues outstanding, and there are a lot of issues that are outstanding,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican who’s one of the leaders of the bipartisan effort. “This is a major piece of legislation, which deals with the work of many committees, and so I can’t possibly predict how long it will take.”

Over the recess, staff worked to try to turn the bipartisan group’s framework into legislative text, but that work still isn’t completed, lawmakers say.

Running out the clock is their plan.

Some of the bipartisan group’s ideas to pay for the investments in roads and bridges – like public-private partnerships – have been questioned as being real revenue generators. The group’s idea of giving the IRS additional money to go after people who don’t pay what they owe in taxes has been criticized by outside conservative groups. The fear among some Republicans is that if the bipartisan proposal costs too much and isn’t offset enough, it will hemorrhage GOP votes.

Some of McConnell’s top deputies have sounded dour about the proposal.

“My concern is we borrowed a lot of money during the Covid crisis and we shouldn’t borrow any more for non-emergency items to pay for it,” said Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who’s a member of McConnell’s leadership team.

Asked about the vow by the bipartisan group to fully fund the plan, including by redirecting Covid-19 relief money, Cornyn said: “There’s a big hole to fill, and what I’ve seen so far doesn’t indicate they’ve filled it.”

Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who’s the minority whip, said how the measure is financed is ultimately going to be the key factor.

“There are still a lot of outstanding questions,” said Thune, referencing efforts to find cost offsets for the bill. “The details on this matter.”

Then raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, you dumbasses. It really is just that easy.