3rd May 2021, 4:55 PM
(This post was last modified: 3rd May 2021, 5:05 PM by A Black Falcon.)
Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema are both being incredibly frustrating, I entirely agree. But between the two of them I'd be more unhappy with Sinema, because she has no excuse -- she's from a state moving to the left, where we can reasonably expect to be very competitive in the future. But Manchin is from a state that has zoomed to the right, and is maybe the last Democrat West Virginia will elect in a statewide election for a very long time. Just compare his votes to WV's other Senator, a Republican. He votes with us dramatically more often. So why are the two of them pretty much in lockstep policy-wise? Sinema has no excuse, Mark Kelly (Arizona's other new Democratic Senator) isn't pulling this nonsense!
But Manchin? Yeah, it's frustrating and disappointing, but I get it, he's representing a state that is now pretty far right. He's the best we could possibly hope for from West Virgina. I VERY badly hope that we can somehow convince him to support DC statehood, I know he's probably a no at the moment but... I'm hoping.
Oh, and Manchin may be a bit like a Republican like 30 or 40 years ago in some ways, but he is in no ways a 2020 Republican! He voted for the giant COVID bailout package, after all. A Republican would not have done that. And he'll vote for more things in the future that Republicans would not support. He just will do so after taking some things out of the bills that we really wish he wouldn't. But we'll get at least SOME good legislation out of him, which is far more than we can say about any Republican, even if it's not all the things that we need.
On that last point though, the worst thing about that fact is that Republicans wouldn't hesitate like we are, they'd immediately blow up the rules and pass everything they wanted! But no, Democrats always have to be a pain to deal with. Ah well, I just hope Biden can manage to get some more good legislation through this congress, we need more than just the COVID bill out of this Congress. We do NOT get many changes with full control of congress and the White House and Manchin and Sinema killing or delaying so much stuff that is badly needed is really unfortunate.
I'm definitely not giving up yet, we will get at least some kind of infrastructure bill(s) and maybe Manchin and Sinema will actually allow some other good legislation through, but yeah Biden and Schumer definitely need to work on them. Biden knows the Senate better than anyone and I hope he can continue to take advantage of that to get stuff out of congress that other Presidents wouldn't.
But Manchin? Yeah, it's frustrating and disappointing, but I get it, he's representing a state that is now pretty far right. He's the best we could possibly hope for from West Virgina. I VERY badly hope that we can somehow convince him to support DC statehood, I know he's probably a no at the moment but... I'm hoping.
Oh, and Manchin may be a bit like a Republican like 30 or 40 years ago in some ways, but he is in no ways a 2020 Republican! He voted for the giant COVID bailout package, after all. A Republican would not have done that. And he'll vote for more things in the future that Republicans would not support. He just will do so after taking some things out of the bills that we really wish he wouldn't. But we'll get at least SOME good legislation out of him, which is far more than we can say about any Republican, even if it's not all the things that we need.
On that last point though, the worst thing about that fact is that Republicans wouldn't hesitate like we are, they'd immediately blow up the rules and pass everything they wanted! But no, Democrats always have to be a pain to deal with. Ah well, I just hope Biden can manage to get some more good legislation through this congress, we need more than just the COVID bill out of this Congress. We do NOT get many changes with full control of congress and the White House and Manchin and Sinema killing or delaying so much stuff that is badly needed is really unfortunate.
I'm definitely not giving up yet, we will get at least some kind of infrastructure bill(s) and maybe Manchin and Sinema will actually allow some other good legislation through, but yeah Biden and Schumer definitely need to work on them. Biden knows the Senate better than anyone and I hope he can continue to take advantage of that to get stuff out of congress that other Presidents wouldn't.