When will moderate Democrats finally learn they can’t trust House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to negotiate in good faith?
She broke yet another promise Thursday by holding hostage the $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill the second time this week in a further cave to her party’s progressives. They insist they won’t vote for the bipartisan plan before reaching a Dem-only deal on a massive spending spree out of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wildest dreams. They’re trying to push the two reluctant moderate senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, into signing on to $3.5 trillion in new entitlements and green-energy boondoggles — or something close to it.
“Respectfully, as I have said for months, I can’t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March,” Manchin reiterated Wednesday.
The next day, it came out that Manchin told Sen. Chuck Schumer back in July he’d agree to no more than $1.5 trillion. That’s not enough for the left, which seeks nothing less than to turn America into a European-style welfare state. The Squad and its allies threw another hissy fit, and Pelosi folded, canceling the vote.
Democratic strategists looking to next year’s midterms winced. “If a bunch of progressives in deep Democratic districts tank this bill, there will be hell to pay,” one told Roll Call. “That is cutting off your nose to spite your face.”
But Pelosi cares more about the socialist minority than the party at large, let alone the economic health of the nation. “There will be a vote today,” she vowed again as she left the Capitol in Friday’s wee hours, but it’s yet another broken promise: Sources told The Post that Pelosi now has a plan to delay the smaller bill for up to a month as President Joe Biden tries to salvage both parts of his agenda.
Manchin said $1.5 trillion was the most “we could do and not jeopardize our economy.” But that’s still a lot of money, and he’s even willing to agree to huge tax hikes that would indeed shatter a still-struggling economy.
In his memo to Schumer, Manchin suggested raising the corporate-tax rate from 21 to 25 percent, not that much lower than Biden’s proposed 26.5 percent. And he’s fine with the prez’s plan to raise the highest income-tax rate to 39.6 percent. He’ll even support tax credits for green energy, as long as fossil-fuel credits remain.
So no matter who wins, the moderate or progressive Democrats, it’s looking like the country will lose.
