"Because the Democrats have a Senate majority, they only need 51 votes to pass the human infrastructure bill as part of a budget resolution."
Has the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the bigger bill could be passed via reconcilation? I thought the smaller bipartisan one got the nod, but the bigger bill hadn't come up in the Senate yet, being a creation of the House.
"'The Parliamentarian has advised that a revised budget resolution may contain budget reconciliation instructions. This confirms the Leader's interpretation of the Budget Act and allows Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of Americans if Republican obstruction continues,' the spokesman said. 'While no decisions have been made on a legislative path forward using Section 304 and some parameters still need to be worked out, the Parliamentarian's opinion is an important step forward that this key pathway is available to Democrats if needed.'"
Here's the thing. When one or two senators are all that are preventing something then those two senators have a strong chance of pissing off everyone else. I get why Manchin is doing it and I'm not comparing the two but this really reminds me of what Ted Cruz did. I don't know what the affects will be but there are going to be a lot of POed progressives out there who may just decide to stay home. Whether that would matter in swing states or if it would just be more progressive states who knows. But I really don't think Manchin is saving anything.
"Because the Democrats have a Senate majority, they only need 51 votes to pass the human infrastructure bill as part of a budget resolution."
Has the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the bigger bill could be passed via reconcilation? I thought the smaller bipartisan one got the nod, but the bigger bill hadn't come up in the Senate yet, being a creation of the House.
Looks like it did:
"'The Parliamentarian has advised that a revised budget resolution may contain budget reconciliation instructions. This confirms the Leader's interpretation of the Budget Act and allows Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of Americans if Republican obstruction continues,' the spokesman said. 'While no decisions have been made on a legislative path forward using Section 304 and some parameters still need to be worked out, the Parliamentarian's opinion is an important step forward that this key pathway is available to Democrats if needed.'"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/infrastrucutre-bill-american-jobs-plan-reconciliation-senate-parliamentarian/#app
Here's the thing. When one or two senators are all that are preventing something then those two senators have a strong chance of pissing off everyone else. I get why Manchin is doing it and I'm not comparing the two but this really reminds me of what Ted Cruz did. I don't know what the affects will be but there are going to be a lot of POed progressives out there who may just decide to stay home. Whether that would matter in swing states or if it would just be more progressive states who knows. But I really don't think Manchin is saving anything.
I meant *Specter never had to worry about primary challenges
Stupid autocorrect on my phone + my declining grammar skills. :)