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Jerri-Lynn here. This post traces just the latest example of the pernicious influence of money on politics. I’ve long been tracking the role of the Chamber of Commerce, first tracing its connections to setting U.S. budget policy, and then its trade policy, going back several decades. So it’s no surprise to me to see the usual suspects make yet another appearance on the latest pandemic stimulus package.
Will the diagnoses of the Trumps and leading lawmakers – confined largely to Republicans so far – as just the latest victims of the pandemic, change the political dynamics at play here? I doubt it. But we shall undoubtedly see,
By Howie Klein. Published at DownWithTryanny!
Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that Pelosi anticipates striking a pandemic relief deal with Mnuchin, who the Republicans have tasked with keeping the package as small and mean as possible. Erica Werner and Jeff Stein asserted that Pelosi thinks that now that Trump is dying sick, it will be easier to get a bipartisan deal. The vote in the House on Thursday for the $2.2 trillion package was supposed to strengthen her hand in the negotiations. Instead, as we explained earlier a pack of mangy Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, screwed it up by voting with the Republicans against the package, giving Mnuchin a bit of an edge in cutting down the amount of money that goes to state and local governments and to working families directly.
Democrats had sought a $2.2 trillion package, while the White House’s most recent offer was closer to $1.6 trillion. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke Friday afternoon for 65 minutes and plan to continue their discussions, according to Drew Hammill, a spokesman for the House speaker.
The pace of talks– and the possibility of a deal– have picked up markedly in recent days. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters Friday that Trump had inquired about the status of negotiations Friday morning, shortly after the president announced his positive coronavirus test.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sounded a positive note at a news conference in Kentucky.” I’m trying to figure out here whether I should predict another bill quickly or not, but the talks have speeded up in the last couple days,” said McConnell, who is not directly involved in the negotiations but is regularly briefed by Mnuchin. “I think we’re closer to getting an outcome.”
With the talks picking up steam, Pelosi released a statement Friday calling on airlines to delay imminent furloughs of workers whose jobs are at risk after payroll support included in the Cares Act expired Wednesday. Pelosi said a six-month extension of the Payroll Support Program would be included in any deal or passed as a stand-alone bill. American Airlines and United Airlines this week announced they would be furloughing a combined 32,000 employees because federal aid expired and the travel industry remains battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Both airlines released statements pledging to reverse the furloughs if Congress acts, but urged lawmakers to move quickly.
The U.S. economy plunged sharply into a recession earlier this year when the coronavirus pandemic led many companies and employers to lay off workers and temporarily close. The economy recovered a bit during the summer, but it has shown signs of lagging in recent weeks, particularly as several large companies have announced new plans for layoffs. That emerging head wind has helped revive talks between the White House and Democrats, but numerous significant issues remain unresolved.
Pelosi outlined some of them in a letter Friday afternoon to House Democrats that pointed to unemployment insurance, money for cities and states, and tax credits for children and families as among the areas where she had yet to reach agreement with Mnuchin.
“We are expecting a response from the White House on these areas and others with more detail,” Pelosi wrote. “In the meantime, we continue to work on the text to move quickly to facilitate an agreement.”
In a sign that a deal could be emerging, Mnuchin told at least one Republican senator in a phone call on Thursday night that the agreement with Pelosi would include a substantial amount of money for state and local governments, a provision numerous conservative Republican senators have strongly resisted, according to one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the private conversation. The call was interpreted as designed to prepare conservatives for the White House to give more on state and local aid than they had previously expected.
Although Pelosi was cross as the garbage Democraps, her own House Majority PAC and the DCCC have already started spending immense amounts of money to save their worthless hides. Neither the DCCC or Pelosi’s PAC spends much on progressives, making sure to keep the number of progressives down to a bare minimum, but they spend millions and millions of dollars protecting weak Blue Dogs and New Dems who don’t generate much enthusiasm from woke Democrats.
Most of them will win in the November anti-Trump tsunami and will go on to be defeated in 2022 after two years of nothing consequential coming out of the Biden White House or the Schumer Senate. These garbagecrats all voted against the pandemic bailout package. The number next to their names is how much the DCCC and the House majority PAC have already spent independently on behalf of their campaigns– and they’re just getting started.
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- $1,159,950
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- $2,252,284
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)- $1,600,047
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- $1,601,567
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)- $1,171,949
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- $1,509,849
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- $1,154,442
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)- $1,514,655
• Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME)- $420,500
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- $1,656,318
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)- $1,336,672
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I made this comment a month ago:
One doesn’t have to wait for 2022. Since it’s a certainty that the Dems will hold the House,
it would be a net gain for progressivism if some of these people aren’t in the next Congress,
even if they are replaced by Republicans. Fewer and better Democrats.
Looking at polls and other factors in their races
(third party candidates, particularly strong Trump districts, etc.),
my amateur opinion is that Brindisi, Torres Small and Spanberger are among the most at risk in 2020.
Not that I would ever dream of encouraging contributions to their GOP opponents.
I love the way that people talk about the Blue Dogs as if they were some sort of accident, instead of a firewall that Pelosi built against the left (exactly as Steve Israel did with the DCCC back in 2006).
I would not bet on a democrat wave.
Dont see it.
Look harder.
These very people are the exact marker of a Democratic Party wave. Unfortunately that is not a good thing for the left — they simply careerists that jump on whatever train seems to be going into the lead. They would all be Bush R’s in the late 1990s.
Eventually they weigh it down enough with their uselessness that the other train catches up again, and they cycle repeats.
Us normals get no seats on either train, of course. And there are only two tracks, so we can’t have our own train.
Ok stretched the analogy till it broke! :D
My sentiments exactly. Touché!
It’s a mystery, the polls have been remarkably consistent. The elite consensus is that Trump has to go. It seems like there’s nothing Trump can do that’s right. Post debate reviews seem to put Biden ahead even more. And yet… I don’t see it either. Am I just hallucinating? Am I too jaded to see what others do? Am I lost in my own bias or have I been gaslit for so long I can’t tell what’s happening outside of my own direct circle of influence?
I don’t know.
I know what you mean. I don’t see any wave enthusiasm in my area, a blue college town. But electronic voting machine companies are an element that, like map makers of old, can say to their patrons, “Somewhere the map [result] you want exists or can be made.”
Too foily?
Not really, unfortunately.
I went to buy an antique bench grinder the other day in Titusville (for the interested, Braun’s Coles model, early 50s, and well over twice the cost of two oriental imports from Harbor Freight). Anyway, yes, I wore my mask when I got out to exchange valuta for said piece of machinery. The seller? No mask until he saw me wearing mine when he belatedly reentered to fetch his. The neighborhood? Lower middle class, mixed race tending white – this in my opinion based on folks I saw out about tending yards, and what not. My point? Trump signs galore. Not a single Biden sign. Not one!
This in a state (Florida) predicted to be a toss up, now leaning Biden. Basically, I don’t see it either, but whatever, because this will be decided soon enough and we can move on to whatever is next. Honestly? I’m so tired of “Trump Wrong” every time I turn on the news I want the President to win not just because I think his policies are better for the country, but now more than ever, just to see heads exploding on the left.
Good grief that would be ridiculously funny and worth the next four years of moaning and complaining. Especially after learning how Clinton’s machine fabricated the entirety of the Russia, Russia, Russia story from whole cloth (meaning the guy never even got a fair chance). Can’t speak for other’s standards of fairness but as an American kid growing up I learned the guy who trips someone else in a race can’t go on to win because everybody deserves a fair chance. Basically, Trump never got a fair shot at the job he was hired to do but instead, was obstructed at every turn. Doesn’t strike me as fair even if the guy is an a$$hat of the first water. The remedy of a reasonable man, again in my opinion, is to give him a fair shot at it the next time around. Small hopes of that happening regardless of the outcome because never have I seen so many stars aligned against one person in my life.
Seriously, the way the entire media has coalesced around Biden, the real story is why isn’t he up 80/20 instead of the purported 65/35? Could it be the MSM is riggin’ this story as well?
I agree but I feel like I’m losing my ability to discern what’s really happening. I don’t see anything that tells me what’s happening on the ground is different from what occurred in 2016. If anything, our elite ruling class seem more detached and deluded. But I don’t see a huge swell of support for Biden either. But maybe that’s because I have a biased point of view?
I think what I notice the most these days is apathy and exhaustion. But I’m not sure if that will translate into support for Biden or support for Trump.
Considering Clinton’s massive unfavs, I would caution on using that year as a proxy.
Considering how little people care about Biden you may be right. He is an empty bag. I don’t see any enthusiasm for him.
Ack. The dreaded double post. Apologies :/
“What have the Democrats done for your family recently?”
Would be an appropriate billboard.
It’s a shame that Botoxed Pelosi can’t be kicked out of office. One would think that with the climate change intensified wildfires raging throughout CA that voters in her district would can her. Her age is showing as well as the fact that she is corruption city.
Pelosi is facing a serious challenge from the left in Shahid Buttar. San Francisco voters are definitely more progressive than Pelosi, and Buttar’s campaign has picked up a bunch of Bernie staff and volunteers. I think Pelosi is soon to retire.
Buttar has been on Useful Idiots two times. I’m not sure what his chances of successfully unsettling Pelosi are. It appears that the same kind of smear campaign tactics that were used against Alex Morse in MA are being applied against Buttar in CA. Various people and unnamed sources collaborating to attack him using IDPol concepts with evidence that falls apart upon further scrutiny but not quick enough to repair the damage it’s done. Although in Buttar’s case it also appears that the local staffers have virulent disagreements with his tactics and strategy. He has alleged thats because they’re trying to build names and political careers. That might be right. But it doesn’t bode well for him that the people he would be representing hate how he’d be representing them.
Gee, two weeks later and we’re down to $2.2 trillion already. Blame the Blue Dogs all you want but Pelosi said 3.4 trillion was already a 1 trillion compromise. Now another 1.2 trillion was shaved off and we’re blaming the Blue Dogs for their votes and impacting Pelosi’s ability to negotiate? Seriously? That’s what we’re saying? It’s just another version of the CARES act in my opinion.
Let me know when we start looking for the root.
From Pelosi’s interview with Swisher on Sept 21st. I recommend this interview for the vapid reveal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-nancy-pelosi.html?showTranscript=1
Swisher: So you don’t think the $1.5 trillion compromise is enough?
nancy pelosi
Pelosi:: No, no, no, we’re $3.4 trillion. We came down $1 trillion to meet them halfway. It does not meet the needs of the American people. It doesn’t do what it needs to do to fight the virus, which is how we’re going to open our economy and how we’re going to open our schools safely for our children. No, it’s not enough.
And this from Humble Student of the Market:
Pelosi’s negotiation intentions are unclear. Why are they even discussing a standalone airline relief bill, or any relief bill? I find it difficult to believe that it is to the Democrats’ advantage to pass any stimulus package at all. Trump and the Republicans appear to be on the ropes in the polls. The Democrat controlled House already passed a $2.2 trillion HEROS 2.0 Act last week, knowing full well that it would not be given assent in the Republican controlled Senate. The Democratic strategy was for lawmakers to return to the districts and campaign on the premise that they tried their best and blame the Republicans. There is little political incentive for Pelosi to work towards a compromise bill, which would benefit the Republicans if passed. Even if she could come to an agreement with Mnuchin, it is unclear whether the Republicans have the votes to pass such a bill in the Senate. Moreover, the Senate is going on hiatus until October 19 because of a COVID-19 outbreak. Why even make the effort at all? Regardless, a comprehensive rescue package would be a huge bullish surprise.
Yep, reminds me of 2008 financial crisis and the years of fallout. (still going!) Supposedly negotiating but only with ourselves. Great show. After all these years, amazing that the same story arc keeps going and going. Season after season. Reminds me of the energizer bunny beating that drum.
The writers really have control of those left-right narratives as this article proves. Highly impressive.
2021 should be fun as the next wave of decay takes root.
I don’t see it either (any further stimulus until after the election) as the logistics now look impossible, absent some kind of shock. Both party representatives and Senators have scattered to the four winds to campaign, and pro-forma sessions don’t pass anything except by unanimous voice votes. All it takes is one maverick with a pesky conscience to object, and Rand Paul and Bernie are still kicking.
It seems like Pelosi and Mnuchin are going through some sort of Kabuki dance to make it look like they’re “working for the people’ while kicking the can until after the election. Who knows, though, what dirty backroom deals they’re hatching. I never trusted Pelosi after she voted to extend the Bush tax cuts back in 2010. That spoke volumes. She has an uncanny knack for anticipating which way the political winds will blow, and a true real-politik survivor who has no moral core whatsoever. She’ll stick a shiv in the back of the progressive wing at any opportunity.
I guess we can judge how big the airline industry bailout will be by how much they have contributed to the Dems over the last two years? What a (family blogged) up system.
Once upon a time, we had the gang of eight plus the President were screwing we the people.
Then, we had the Gang of Four and the P.
Now, Pelosi, Mitch and Mnuchin.
Soon, we will have ONE ruler.
We are witnessing the disintegration of democracy. The congress means nothing.
And this will change under Biden how? We’re getting a preview of what a Biden administration would look like. Republican lite.
My vote? None of the above. Not R, nor D. IMHO a massive Green vote is the spanking these corrupt Bobs and Betty’s need.
yup, voting Green here too
No surprise. Glad the writer named some names. (And where, one might wonder, is the money to the DCCC coming from? Could it be from, oh I don’t know, the US Chamber of Commerce and Wall St? /heh)
I’ve given up on the Democrats. The Republicons are bent on destroying life on Earth through war, climate denial, environmental destruction or all three. I’m voting Green Party without remorse. I wish Shahid Buttar the very best of luck but I fear he stands a snowball’s chance against the DCCC machine.
What’s the difference, please, between a “Blue Dog” and a “New Dem”?
Not much. Blue Dogs are culturally conservative, New Dems are culturally liberal. Both are ‘centrists’ or fiscal conservatives. New Dems are currently the party leaders. The Blue Dogs profess independence from the party leadership. Both are hawkish. Both are eager to work with the GOP.
A link about modern Blue Dogs.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2000/12/what-is-a-blue-dog-democrat.html
In the mid-20th c, Dems with this outlook were known as Boll Weevil Dems, cultural conservates of the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_weevil_(politics)
Blue dogs can or cannot be “cultural” conservative . Socialism started as a “cultural” conservative ” reaction against liberalism.
Sorry, can’t see how socialism started as a cultural reaction against civil rights(liberal at the time) and for segregation(conservative at the time). ol’ Strom was no socialist. ;)
But I can see how it started as a reaction against financial abuses and the predations of monopoly power. (financial)
The New Deal wasn’t even socialism, it was recognition that the govt has a role to play in an increasingly complex social and market forces economy, to keep things on an even keel and stable for every facet of the country, in order to keep the whole a going concern.
I think Biden is a Blue Dog: culturally conservative – the 1994 crime bill put thousands of young black men in prison, and fiscally very conservative – he tried to cut SS security 4 times and bragged about that.
Fiscally, he is a moderate Wisconsin school tax/spender. More than Obama.
Delaware. Banking incorporations under Delaware laws. And why do you suppose so many big banks incorporate in Delaware? ;)
And why to you suppose Biden, when senator from Delaware, made student loans undischargable in bankruptcy, no matter the borrower’s current circumstances? /heh
Biden came out clearly for gay marriage while Obama was dithering around with endorsing civil union, and thus forced Obama into supporting gay marriage. Not the move of a cultural conservative.
Biden is a guy who is very attuned to the needs of the moment, not very ideological, which makes it easy for him to work with others of a different viewpoint. Maybe we need a little of that now—a compassionate pragmatist. This tribalism has to end.
My goodness. Tribalism? Did you see Biden’s interview with Ady Barkan? He has no compassion, he has no principles, he is not a liberal or a conservative. He’s a corrupt fool. He stands by his donors and the banks. By his own words he’s not for the green new deal, M4A, or anything like legislation to rein in the banks. He says one thing about gay people that everyone at the time thought was a gaffe and suddenly he’s a “compassionate pragmatist”?
Who cares. Why even bother negotiating this year. By the end of 2021, unemployment will be back down to 5.5%. This isn’t 2009 people.
“By the end of 2021, unemployment will be back down to 5.5%.”
… with a workforce participation rate of 45%.
“Lies, damn lies, and statistics“.
It’s that “getting to the end of 2021 ” that is the problem, boss. Eating has become something of a common practice in my neighborhood. Got ideas?
Wow, it looks like tapping into superPAC money is pretty profitable, plus as was demonstrated quite a while ago, it is easy to file some paperwork, and turn that sweet superPAC money into YOUR MONEY:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy7TUtlPmqk
Does anyone know where to obtain a complete list of the DCCC and the House majority PAC expenditures on individual congressional campaigns cited in the article?
It would be interesting to compare spending on the Blue Dogs with spending (if any) on “the Squad.”