Joe Biden's First 100 Days in Office - Megathread

[DocWatts]

Legislation that would make Washington DC 51st state introduced to Senate

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/washington-dc-51st-us-state-senate-b1793590.html

For those outside of the US, Washington DC has roughly the same population as the state of Alaska (around 700,000), but no Voting rights within the House or Senate. The practical effect of statehood for DC would be to add two seats to the Senate which come from an area that's overwhelmingly Democratic. As such, Republicans will be vehemently opposed to this (though they'll of course couch their opposition in Constitutional terms supported by antiquated arguments from the Founding Fathers that are no longer relevant in modern times).

Edited January 27, 2021 by DocWatts

[Leo Gura]

Quote

Legislation that would make Washington DC 51st state introduced to Senate

Oh, ho-ho! No way Rupblicans will go for that.

This would nearly kill their ability to hold power.

[Hardkill]

2 hours ago, DocWatts said:

Legislation that would make Washington DC 51st state introduced to Senate

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/washington-dc-51st-us-state-senate-b1793590.html

For those outside of the US, Washington DC has roughly the same population as the state of Alaska (around 700,000), but no Voting rights within the House or Senate. The practical effect of statehood for DC would be to add two seats to the Senate which come from an area that's overwhelmingly Democratic. As such, Republicans will be vehemently opposed to this (though they'll of course couch their opposition in Constitutional terms supported by antiquated arguments from the Founding Fathers that are no longer relevant in modern times).

How about making both Puerto Rico and D.C. official states? Democrats would really be happy with that.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

@Hardkill Keep dreamin'

[Hardkill]

29 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@Hardkill Keep dreamin'

I know. Neither D.C. nor Puerto Rico will gain statehood anytime soon.

In any case, what's your take on progressive analysts who've already been saying stuff like "He hasn't been hitting the ground running when he should've been, especially given the crises our country is still in," "Biden doesn't seem like he's going to be like FDR like he led us to believe during his 2020 presidential campaign," "he's not going to get much done for our country," "he turning out to be another predictable corporate establishment Dem," "he is living in a dream world by thinking that he is going to unite country or create effective bipartisanship in Washington," "Bernie would've been a stronger and more aggressive president than Biden," etc.?

Edited January 28, 2021 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

@Hardkill Progressives are gonna whine and blame no matter what. Their whole worldview is so unrealistic that it condemns them to a lifetime of whining and blaming.

Don't fall into that trap.

[Hardkill]

20 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@Hardkill Progressives are gonna whine and blame no matter what. Their whole worldview is so unrealistic that it condemns them to a lifetime of whining and blaming.

Don't fall into that trap.

hmm.....yeah, it can be very compelling to get sucked into their kind of worldview. 

Though, you've said before that Progressive YTers have better political analysis than mainstream news channels do. So, while progressive YTers have more accurate assessments than news channels do on the political situations going on in our country, the progressive analysts are still too pessimistic, complain too much, and blame the mainstream media and centre to center-left Democrats, right?

[Leo Gura]

3 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

right?

Form your own opinions. Why do you need mine?

[Hardkill]

13 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Form your own opinions. Why do you need mine?

Well because you say that you are God. So, everything that you say must be taken literally as the Word of God. jk 

In all seriousness, I do value your opinions highly, but don't believe that I necessarily need your opinions all the time. I am just trying to understand them as best as I can because I find them to be very useful.

[Forestluv]

On 1/27/2021 at 6:43 PM, DocWatts said:

Legislation that would make Washington DC 51st state introduced to Senate

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/washington-dc-51st-us-state-senate-b1793590.html

For those outside of the US, Washington DC has roughly the same population as the state of Alaska (around 700,000), but no Voting rights within the House or Senate. The practical effect of statehood for DC would be to add two seats to the Senate which come from an area that's overwhelmingly Democratic. As such, Republicans will be vehemently opposed to this (though they'll of course couch their opposition in Constitutional terms supported by antiquated arguments from the Founding Fathers that are no longer relevant in modern times).

If there was ever a time to go for it, now is the time. The capital riot in Washington DC caught the attention of all Americans and most Americans can see that something isn't right. Democrats have a justifiable narrative on their side at the moment. 

If the situation was reversed, McConnell would use every tactic available to ram through DC statehood and try to limit the backlash with spinning frames. We know this because he broke norms and used every tactic possible to block Obama's justice pick for a year and used every tactic possible to ram through Trump's justice pick a week before the election. 

Yet democrats don't play that way. They could play hardball, break norms and use every tactic possible to ram through DC statehood. They have a justifiable narrative and could ram it through. And I think it would actually help them. They have a plurality or majority of Americans on their side (at the moment) and most media. Democrats lose in midterm elections because they play nice and don't get anything done. If they rammed through DC statehood, they could frame that as a major achievement and how strong they are to get shit done. It would inspire Dem and Progressive voters. If Dems also did well with covid, they could still likely maintain control in 2-3 houses.

The long-term effect would be to eradicate the filibuster.  At times, this would be bad for Dems (when Rs are in power), yet Dems are asymmetrically hurt worst by the filibuster than Rs. The filibuster re-enforces the unfair representation in the Senate electoral college that favors Rs. 

And if the Dems are going to bust through the filibuster they need to do it now, quickly and for something big. After years of Trumpism and the capital riot, there is an anti-MAGA, anti-fascist sentiment. The iron is hot. And if they do it quick, they would have two years to work with simple majority votes. If they wait until 2022, they would only have months to work with. And DC statehood is big. Even without the filibuster, it would make it much harder for Rs to get simple majorities in the future. 

Yet I don't see it happening. I don't see Dems wanting to fight that fight. The Dem leadership doesn't like to rock the boat regarding norms. I don't see Pelosi and Schumer ramming through DC statehood. Yet I could see AOC and Bernie going for it if they were the leaders. 

[Hardkill]

9 minutes ago, Forestluv said:

If there was ever a time to go for it, now is the time. The capital riot in Washington DC caught the attention of all Americans and most Americans can see that something isn't right. Democrats have a justifiable narrative on their side at the moment. 

If the situation was reversed, McConnell would use every tactic available to ram through DC statehood and try to limit the backlash with spinning frames. We know this because he broke norms and used every tactic possible to block Obama's justice pick for a year and used every tactic possible to ram through Trump's justice pick a week before the election. 

Yet democrats don't play that way. They could play hardball, break norms and use every tactic possible to ram through DC statehood. They have a justifiable narrative and could ram it through. And I think it would actually help them. They have a plurality or majority of Americans on their side (at the moment) and most media. Democrats lose in midterm elections because they play nice and don't get anything done. If they rammed through DC statehood, they could frame that as a major achievement and how strong they are to get shit done. It would inspire Dem and Progressive voters. If Dems also did well with covid, they could still likely maintain control in 2-3 houses.

The long-term effect would be to eradicate the filibuster.  At times, this would be bad for Dems (when Rs are in power), yet Dems are asymmetrically hurt worst by the filibuster than Rs. The filibuster re-enforces the unfair representation in the Senate electoral college that favors Rs. 

And if the Dems are going to bust through the filibuster they need to do it now, quickly and for something big. After years of Trumpism and the capital riot, there is an anti-MAGA, anti-fascist sentiment. The iron is hot. And if they do it quick, they would have two years to work with simple majority votes. If they wait until 2022, they would only have months to work with. And DC statehood is big. Even without the filibuster, it would make it much harder for Rs to get simple majorities in the future. 

Yet I don't see it happening. I don't see Dems wanting to fight that fight. The Dem leadership doesn't like to rock the boat regarding norms. I don't see Pelosi and Schumer ramming through DC statehood. Yet I could see AOC and Bernie going for it if they were the leaders. 

I am not sure of Pelosi and Schumer are the problem in Congress. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the two conservative Democrats who don't want to eliminate the filibuster, which is why the Democratic caucus in the US Senate cannot eliminate the filibuster.

 

 

[DocWatts]

The filibuster needs to be nuked from orbit by the Democrats, using any avenue that presents itself.

While in theory it presents a check on the power of the majority, in practice it basically holds all national legislation hostage to obstructionism by Bad Faith Actors representing a minority of Americans as well as the financial incentives of Special Interests.

[Forestluv]

36 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

I am not sure of Pelosi and Schumer are the problem in Congress. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the two conservative Democrats who don't want to eliminate the filibuster, which is why the Democratic caucus in the US Senate cannot eliminate the filibuster.

This is part of what I'm saying about how Dems don't play hardball. If McConnell needed votes from Murkowski and Collin to push a conservative SCOTUS judge through he wouldn't say "Oh well, we are two votes short. At least we gave it a try". Of course not, he would put enormous pressure on Murkowski and Collins make their life miserable until they surrendered. How many times has Collins said how "concerned" she is and then cave to McConnell?

Pelosi and Schumer could put enormous pressure on Manchin and Sinema and make their life miserable. They could be stripped of committee positions, no longer get pork for their states and the DNC could fund primary challengers. And this stick can be coupled to carrots. If they vote with Dems, they would get elevated power positions, more money for their states and campaign funding. There is a low chance either would leave the Dem party.

I'm not saying this is the best way to act, I'm saying it could be done. Dems always start off with the assumption that we can't do it and give tons of excuses why they can't do it. Republicans start off with the assumption that they can do it and start asking whose arms they need to twist and what norms they need to break to get it done. 

[DocWatts]

Great news; apparently the $15 minimum wage legislation that Democrats introduced to Congress includes a mechanism to Index the Minimum Wage to the Median Wage of the country.

Which would mean that it would be updated to account for inflation, and this same battle won't have to be fought again in ten to fifteen years.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/democrats-reintroduce-15-minimum-wage-bill-with-unified-control-of-congress.html

[Hardkill]

6 hours ago, Forestluv said:

This is part of what I'm saying about how Dems don't play hardball. If McConnell needed votes from Murkowski and Collin to push a conservative SCOTUS judge through he wouldn't say "Oh well, we are two votes short. At least we gave it a try". Of course not, he would put enormous pressure on Murkowski and Collins make their life miserable until they surrendered. How many times has Collins said how "concerned" she is and then cave to McConnell?

Pelosi and Schumer could put enormous pressure on Manchin and Sinema and make their life miserable. They could be stripped of committee positions, no longer get pork for their states and the DNC could fund primary challengers. And this stick can be coupled to carrots. If they vote with Dems, they would get elevated power positions, more money for their states and campaign funding. There is a low chance either would leave the Dem party.

I'm not saying this is the best way to act, I'm saying it could be done. Dems always start off with the assumption that we can't do it and give tons of excuses why they can't do it. Republicans start off with the assumption that they can do it and start asking whose arms they need to twist and what norms they need to break to get it done. 

Oh, I see what you’re saying. However, if Republicans in Washington such as McConnell and Trump have always arm twisted other Republican Congressmen and broken various kinds of norms to get what they want, then why didn’t the Republicans in Washington pass tons of new conservative laws during Trump first 2 years as president which was when the Republicans had the whole government trifecta? In fact, how come they weren’t able to repeal Obamacare when Trump and McConnell really wanted to repeal it and perhaps replace it with another kind of care act they wanted? 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Hardkill

[Opo]

9 hours ago, Hardkill said:

how come they weren’t able to repeal Obamacare when Trump and McConnell really wanted to repeal it and perhaps replace it with another kind of care act they wanted? 

Maybe they too dumb to find a replacement. 

[Hardkill]

8 hours ago, Opo said:

Maybe they too dumb to find a replacement. 

Okay, but McConnell, Trump, and most of the Republicans in Washington made it very clear right after Trump won in 2016 that they will make repealing Obamacare a top priority. They even worked as hard as they could on during the first two years of Trump's presidency, and yet they ultimately failed. So, much for McConnell and Trump bullying the rest of Congress with that. 

Also, how come McConnell and Trump didn't repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, when I believe they tried as hard as they could to get of that too?

[DocWatts]

Senate Democrats have begun the budget reconciliation process for Covid-19 relief

https://www.vox.com/2021/2/3/22263177/senate-democrats-covid-19-relief-budget-reconciliation

[Hardkill]

On 2/4/2021 at 5:59 AM, DocWatts said:

Senate Democrats have begun the budget reconciliation process for Covid-19 relief

https://www.vox.com/2021/2/3/22263177/senate-democrats-covid-19-relief-budget-reconciliation

Yeah, I am glad that they are going through with that. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been any way that the bill for the 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus package would have passed through a bipartisan agreement in the senate.

[Leo Gura]

Biden knocking it out of the park so far.

Let's see how long it holds.

I think many progressive naysayers will be shown wrong by Biden. He will be better than Obama I think. But of course they will still whine that he's not doing enough.

Progressive have been way too harsh on Biden.