When the Republicans passed a Covid relief bill, almost every Democrat in Congress believed the bill contained too many tax breaks for the wealthy and not enough money for the people on the bottom. Nonetheless, a large proportion of Democratic congress members voted for the bill because they felt it was important for the country to get some relief, however flawed.
The new Covid relief bill, passed today, received no votes from any Republicans. Not a single Republican member of the House or the Senate voted for the bill. Not one.
Then, in a definition of chutzpah, the Republicans blamed the Democrats for not being bipartisan.
Now there is a congressman from Mississippi who is bragging about how it's going to help the people of Mississippi. What a hypocrite!
ReplyDeleteI need to correct my post, that was not a congressman but it was (R)Senator Wicker of Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteIn any case it is a hypocrite of the worst kind. I had not heard that, but actually I'm not surprised.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your attitude toward bipartisanship, generally, Professor? Should, e.g., the Dems have made more of an effort to get Repub support for that bill by drastically shrinking it, or, since they have the majority (and the Filibuster was not in play) should they have flexed their muscles as they did and ignored the naysayers across the aisle?
ReplyDeleteHowie Hawkins (the Green Party candidate for President) was asked in a recent interview whether he thought the progressive Dems should have withheld their votes unless the minimum wage hike was reinserted. He replied that he wouldn't have done so if he only had the tiny AOC contingent, but might have done it if a significantly larger minority in the House were with him.
Having read your (excellent) review of a bunch of "party reform" books that came out some years back, I'm curious what you think of these matters--and "strong parties" in general. Thanks.