Wanting The Issue Rather Than The Solution

One of the more frequently used tricks in Washington is to create a bill (supposedly to solve a problem) that cannot pass because it is not a good bill, blame the opposition for not passing it, and then claim that you wanted to do the right thing, but were stopped by the other political party. Then you campaign on the issue, claiming that you will solve the problem if you are re-elected. Of course you never solve the problem, you just keep bringing up the issue. It looks as if that is where we are with the infrastructure bill.

Yesterday Breitbart posted the following:

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) stated that during negotiations over an infrastructure package, “we offered the president basically what he asked us to do the first time we met with him, which was a trillion dollars over eight years, including baseline spending.” And that despite Republicans drawing a red line on tax increases, “the last offer that I got from the president had four tax increases in it.”

Capito said, “Well, the president ended the talks today with me on a very cordial call. I am extremely disappointed. Because we offered the president basically what he asked us to do the first time we met with him, which was a trillion dollars over eight years, including baseline spending. And that it wouldn’t include a tax increase, and those were our — that was our red line, not his. And the last offer that I got from the president had four tax increases in it. And it also was much closer in numbers than what the White House is putting out right now. So, I’m disappointed with that.”

I would like to see a real infrastructure deal that focuses on crumbling highways and bridges, but I seriously doubt anything like that has a chance of passing. However, if Congress changes hands next year, there is a strong possibility such a bill would pass. Democrat Presidents traditionally don’t mind accomplishing things with a Republican Congress as long as they can take credit for the accomplishment (for example, Clinton and welfare reform). If a Republican Congress is elected next year, it is remotely possible that the Biden/Harris presidency could be successful.