A Question of Momentum
There is always positive momentum every time a major piece of legislation passes. It takes so long to get those things done. You have to corral your own caucus and make sure everyone gets what they need out of it. Then, you have to overcome the filibuster on the other side. I think you get the idea.
Congress passes legislation all the time. We often refer to Congress as a “do nothing” Congress and somehow assume they can only do one thing at a time. I think deep down we know this isn’t true, but when it comes to major issues this is certainly true. Now, the Democrats in Congress and the Justice Department have a choice they have to make.
How do they use this momentum? The positive feelings from passing a major piece of legislation like the infrastructure bill probably buys you only so much. You can push one thing forward and time is running out. The closer we get to the 2022 midterm elections the less that’s going to get done. We probably have time for them to do one other great thing.
As Yogi Berra once said, “when you reach a fork in the road. Take it.” Naturally, many of you are wondering what our choices are. We can certainly add to the economic impact of the infrastructure bill with items that were left out. Democrats initially wanted a much bigger package. They could damn the torpedoes and go for that.
The Democrats could take the momentum and go after the voting rights bill. I think this is the legislative direction most people want to go. If such a bill passed it would nullify the voter suppression bills passed in individual states and would add protections that could safeguard our democracy moving forward.
The last possibility involves the Justice Department. Congress has subpoenaed numerous officials from the Trump administration to answer for the big lie and the January 6th insurrection. How much did they plan? How much did they incite with their rhetoric? Can we prove they helped plan that event and that they knew the big lie was obviously false?
If they appear the simple answer would appear to be yes on all counts. We get two divergent questions from this point forward. The first question is how hard we pursue them to compel them to appear? The current strategy appears to be for them to just skip the appearances and let Congress and the Justice Department pursue them. If you play their game you could end up spending that entire momentum on getting them to admit what most rational people already know.
The second question is what to do once they admit what we already know. Do you throw them in jail? Do you simply use the material in campaigns moving forward? Do we make a huge effort to educate the public? All of this involves using pretty much all of that momentum we described earlier.
The upshot is that as long as the Democrats make a choice they will create some positive synergy for the next election cycle. Some choices are better than others, but the key is to get off the pot and make one. The alternative is paralysis by analysis. Factions bicker about what to do and you look up and it’s November 2022. The unfortunate part of opportunity costs is that you have to choose something. The clock is ticking.
Interesting. I think of the bills – Voting Rights and Infrastructure – as different from and separate from the work of the January 6th Committee. To my mind, that work continues while one or the other of the bills moves forward.
1Doesn’t matter how many bills get passed in the House if the Senate does NOTHING.
2Right Mike. That’s kind of the whole point. We may be able to get one more major bill passed in advance of the midterm elections. I would like to see them use what you’re talking about in their national campaigns. I think people would be shocked to see all that the House has done over the last several years only to see it go to die in the Senate.
3Nick, in your own fashion you have landed on an excellent 2022 campaign strategy. Run against Moscow Mitch and his obstructionist caucus in the Senate. A generic “why we don’t have nice things” strategy. Name the issues on which most Americans agree, then plaster Mitch’s mugshot next to a big nyet.
4Democrats have been bringing a nail file to a gun fight for a long time. They need to hype good things they do when they do them, and also remind people all the time on social media, TV/radio interviews etc. The Electile Disfunction video on Maddow last night is an example, fun yet devastatingly to the point!
5In May 2015, warming up to begin his presidential campaign, Donald Trump expressed his desire to fix America’s aging infrastructure, making it “second to none.” He acknowledged that modernizing American infrastructure was going to be expensive but argued that in the end, such an investment would pay for itself. He promised a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. And then after he was elected, he shrugged his shoulders and went to the golf course.
Now that President Biden has actually accomplished this, Republicans are attacking other Republicans helping President Biden to do pretty much what Trump campaigned on.
Sometimes I think the world can’t get any crazier. But then the next day it does.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_policy_of_Donald_Trump
6There are a few additional items needing attention:
December 1 or 2 is the drop-dead date for authorizing Federal spending for the debt.
Dec. 3 is the date for budget bills or the next continuing resolution to authorize spending and keep the government open. I don’t recall ANY of the multiple bills passing both chambers of Congress yet.
The White House priority on the budget + reconciliation to include the BBB.
Plus a few other items important to some — such as confirming nominees and judges in the Senate,
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