On the night before Afghanistan collapsed, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and all the bigfoot Democrats were in the catbird seat. Their $4.5-trillion stimulus package was in the bag with both houses of Congress, and all that was left was the vote.
Now things have changed. Last night on Capitol Hill:
Tensions rose as lawmakers returned for the evening session and a band of moderate lawmakers threatened to withhold their votes for the $3.5 trillion plan. They were demanding the House first approve a $1 trillion package of road, power grid, broadband and other infrastructure projects that’s already passed the Senate.
But as the evening dragged on the chamber came to a standstill and plans were thrown into flux as leaders and lawmakers huddled privately at the Capitol trying to broker an agreement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi implored Democrats during a private caucus not to bog down and miss this chance to deliver on the promises Biden and the party have made to Americans.
The $1-trillion “infrastructure” bill, along with its Bernie Sanders–crafted $3.5-trillion “reconciliation” bill, are falling apart fast. The Associated Press is making no bones about it. Nancy Pelosi is begging her own moderates to play ball, and time is running out. Nine Democrats are vowing to withhold votes, likely because they are hearing from voters, and Pelosi can afford to lose only three. These Democrats seem to be OK with passing the $1-trillion “infrastructure” stimulus but are balking at attaching the $3.5-trillion rider, which is all about pork — free education, a Green New Deal, amnesty for illegals, election-rigging, and metering cars to tax them on how far they drive among the goodies, and taxpayers or the monetary presses left to pay the bills. Might that sudden hesitation be because of Biden’s failure in Afghanistan? It’s as good a guess as any. Nobody likes to be associated with a loser, and Joe Biden’s popularity with the public has taken on water fast. The media fawning is vanishing. Why attach your name to this pig of a bill as voters are rejecting Biden as incompetent? The recalcitrant Democrats, numbering nine, are likely hearing from voters who have had enough and can see the guided missile this pork bill has in store for the economy and the American way of life. For one thing, the oversized pork bill should bankrupt America at a time of high inflation, leaving the country in a sea of Argentina-like debt with no cash for a national security emergency, as Sen. Joe Manchin has pointed out. Think we might get some national security challenges now that tens of thousands of Afghani refugees are being let in with uncertain vetting, and China and Russia are licking their chops? Beyond that, the amnesty should encourage millions more border-crossers as if there weren’t already enough with Joe’s open border. Those are just a couple of things, and potential for greenie corruption in this bill is bound to be amazing.
The Democrats had been docile under Pelosi’s thumb, right up until the Afghanistan catastrophe. Apparently, some are waking up, not out of a sudden concern for fiscal discipline, but more likely a desire to keep their congressional seats. They know that a red wave is coming with this Afghanistan fiasco, and it’s going to get big soon. The so-called moderate Democrats resemble rats now, fleeing a sinking ship, although to be fair, the big ‘rats are staying behind. Nancy Pelosi is holding fat-cat fundraisers where only dark-skinned servants wear masks in tony Napa County, California. On the Senate side, Chuck Schumer is hoofing around to gangsta rap with Stephen Colbert in New York’s Central Park, both fiddling while Afghanistan burns.
It seems that for Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, who continuously tell us all’s well in Afghanistan and Joe’s the hero, reality is coming to bite them. The Taliban have a clarifying effect on voters. Joe’s signature accomplishment bill is now collapsing. Afghanistan’s eating Joe’s and Nancy’s pork.
Monica Showalter | Columnist
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