President Biden's Infrastructure Plans

[TV and credit cards]

Rep. Ilhan Omar on Twitter: "The Build Back Better Act finally passed the House yesterday!
We’re going to provide universal pre-k, green jobs, paid leave, and combat the climate crisis. (pic link)" / Twitter
With her standing next to that gentleman in a bill costume, with a sash on it stating "ON TO THE SENATE!"


Jen Curt on Twitter: "Look who’s dressed in green for environmental justice, Civilian Climate Corps, climate resilience & clean energy affordability. LFG #BuildBackBetter Act (pix link)" / Twitter
Showing Ayanna Pressley in a green shirt, a black jacket, and a black shiny skirt.

Pressley Statement on House Passage of Build Back Better Act | Representative Ayanna Pressley on how it represents some long overdue investment in our communities.

For all six Democrats who voted against BIF, I have found their celebrating their votes for BBB.

Jen Curt on Twitter: "Look who’s dressed in nonbiodegradable polyester for environmental justice, Civilian Climate Corps, climate resilience & clean energy affordability. LFG #BuildBackBetter Act (pix link)" / Twitter
Showing Ayanna Pressley in nonbiodegradable polyester.

She should be wearing an alpaca jacket, bamboo socks, hemp shirt, recycled cotton skirt, and everyone and I mean everyone should wear merino wool undies. The world would be a happier place if they did.

No, thank you. My boys need fresh, cool air to remain comfortable.

FIFM

 

[lpetrich]

A.O.C. on Why Democrats’ ‘Talking Points Are Not Enough’ - The New York Times

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Why Democrats’ ‘Talking Points Are Not Enough’

The House progressive spoke about “demoralizing” congressional negotiations, how she was told to stay away from Virginia’s elections, and what it means to excite the Democratic base.

...
Why do you feel this social policy bill has to pass as soon as possible, at the biggest scale possible?

I think the stakes are really, really high.

The entire reason that the Progressive Caucus gave their votes [for the infrastructure bill] was based on direct promises from the president, as well as direct promises from more conservative Democratic holdouts. And from House leadership as well. So if those promises don’t follow through, it’s going to be very, very difficult for them to get votes on anything moving forward, because the trust that was already so delicate will have been broken.

... But I think that the worst and most vulnerable position we could be in is to over-promise and under-deliver.

So let’s not go around and say, “We’re going to replace every lead pipe in this country,” because according to the bipartisan infrastructure plan, that is not going to happen. That has not been funded. And if the Build Back Better Act gets cut even further, then that’s definitely not going to happen.

...
There was some good faith with the American Rescue Plan [Democrats’ $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, signed in March]. But after that, which was quite early, it’s been a bit of a slog.

I actually don’t direct this critique directly at the White House. I think, in general, the party doesn’t quite fully grasp what is happening in deep-blue communities.

I think that she's right about that. That's what happened during the Clinton Admin and that's what happened during the Obama Admin -- making lots of promises then not keeping them. As she has said elsewhere, saying how bad the Republicans are is not enough. One has to project some positive alternative.

 

[Derec]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "What did we just pass in #BuildBackBetter?
Universal Pre-K
Lower US Climate Emissions
Medicare + Hearing

Tax cuts for the (blue state) rich

Some of Team AOC’s Inclusions:
High Speed Rail + Transit
Creation of Civilian Climate Corps (300k jobs!)
NYCHA Repair+ Faircloth Repeal 🏙" / Twitter

I still do not know what these 300k climate paramilitaries are supposed to be doing? Knock on people door's in the middle of the night to check their thermostat settings?

Another problem with the B³ is that it employs the accounting trick of projecting revenues for the full 10 years but accounts for spending for a shorter time-frame with the plan of extending spending once it runs out. So the true cost of the bill is much higher than $1.75T and that is deeply dishonest.
Build Back Better Cost Would Double with Extensions

Manchin and Sinema must oppose this Spendapalooza!

 

[Harry Bosch]

A.O.C. on Why Democrats’ ‘Talking Points Are Not Enough’ - The New York Times

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Why Democrats’ ‘Talking Points Are Not Enough’

The House progressive spoke about “demoralizing” congressional negotiations, how she was told to stay away from Virginia’s elections, and what it means to excite the Democratic base.

...
Why do you feel this social policy bill has to pass as soon as possible, at the biggest scale possible?

I think the stakes are really, really high.

The entire reason that the Progressive Caucus gave their votes [for the infrastructure bill] was based on direct promises from the president, as well as direct promises from more conservative Democratic holdouts. And from House leadership as well. So if those promises don’t follow through, it’s going to be very, very difficult for them to get votes on anything moving forward, because the trust that was already so delicate will have been broken.

... But I think that the worst and most vulnerable position we could be in is to over-promise and under-deliver.

So let’s not go around and say, “We’re going to replace every lead pipe in this country,” because according to the bipartisan infrastructure plan, that is not going to happen. That has not been funded. And if the Build Back Better Act gets cut even further, then that’s definitely not going to happen.

...
There was some good faith with the American Rescue Plan [Democrats’ $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, signed in March]. But after that, which was quite early, it’s been a bit of a slog.

I actually don’t direct this critique directly at the White House. I think, in general, the party doesn’t quite fully grasp what is happening in deep-blue communities.

I think that she's right about that. That's what happened during the Clinton Admin and that's what happened during the Obama Admin -- making lots of promises then not keeping them. As she has said elsewhere, saying how bad the Republicans are is not enough. One has to project some positive alternative.

Well, they made promises, but then got creamed in the races the next year. If the left wants promises fulfilled, then they need to vote.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "What did we just pass in #BuildBackBetter?
Universal Pre-K
Lower US Climate Emissions
Medicare + Hearing

Tax cuts for the (blue state) rich

???

Right-wingers have been talking about that as if this is some terrible moral lapse, but right-wingers normally argue that rich people should be exempted from taxes because taxing them is "punishing success". I don't see right-wingers saying "Good that the Democrats recognize that success should not be punished. Let's see them apply this principle more generally."

I still do not know what these 300k climate paramilitaries are supposed to be doing? Knock on people door's in the middle of the night to check their thermostat settings?

Install solar panels and better insulation, build resiliency to wildfires and floods, and lots of other things. Derec, why don't you read the bill?

From 2016, about the fake newsies of Veles, North Macedonia:

Inside the Macedonian Fake-News Complex | WIRED

Trump groups seemed to have hundreds of thousands more members than Clinton groups, which made it simpler to propel an article into virality. (For a week in July, he experimented with fake news extolling Bernie Sanders. “Bernie Sanders supporters are among the smartest people I’ve seen,” he says. “They don’t believe anything. The post must have proof for them to believe it.”)

The fake news machine: Inside a town gearing up for 2020 - CNN

"I'm posting about Hillary, Bernie Sanders maybe sometimes, but I don't get paid enough for that," Mikhail said.

How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News - BuzzFeed news

Earlier in the year, some in Veles experimented with left-leaning or pro–Bernie Sanders content, but nothing performed as well on Facebook as Trump content.

"People in America prefer to read news about Trump," said a Macedonian 16-year-old who operates BVANews.com.

BuzzFeed News' research also found that the most successful stories from these sites were nearly all false or misleading.

This says a lot of about the right wing, and it isn't very flattering.

 

[lpetrich]

Is this frustration a growing sentiment in the Democratic congressional caucus? Or is this just you?

Frustration is there, and it’s part of why the Progressive Caucus was holding out on passing both of these two pieces of legislation together, because we’re like, listen, we’re not going to take these empty promises anymore.

We went from the American Rescue Plan to six months of watching us just hand the pen to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. If you even look at the [infrastructure bill], it was drafted in the Senate, and they didn’t even allow conferencing with the House version. They said you just need to take this legislation as is — no compromises, no edits, nothing.

So it's worse than we thought -- it was force-fed to the House. Making her vote against it more understandable.

Democrats have a trifecta and have been unable to pass voting-rights protections. And so people can wring their hands and say “but Manchin” all they want, or “but the filibuster” all they want, but at the end of the day, what people see are the results of their actions and the results of investing their time.

We are up against political nihilism. The idea that nothing we do matters, because as long as I live in the Bronx, the political reality of this country is that no one’s going to fight for me. That is why it’s so important that we take some of these risks for our base.

I agree. Having a trifecta then not doing much with it looks awful. It's sort of like Clinton and Obama.

What AOC gets exactly right about Democrats' political problems - CNNPolitics

The average voter likely knows one thing about our current politics: Democrats are in control of the White House, the Senate and the House. They are far less familiar with the narrowness of the Democratic majorities in those two chambers. Or with the filibuster rules that prevent any legislation from moving forward without 60 votes.

That's not for a lack of trying by Biden, of course. He explicitly made the point about the narrowness of Democrats' margin in the Senate during a CNN townhall late last month. "When you're in the United States Senate and you're President of the United States and you have 50 Democrats, every one is a president," Biden said to laughter. "Every single one."

What should be done about it?

The view of most establishment Democrats -- including Biden and his White House -- is that they need to focus more on selling all that they have done to voters.

...
That is not the view of Ocasio-Cortez, however. Her belief is not that Democrats haven't sold their accomplishments well enough but rather that the party has been too timid to push the envelope legislatively in ways that get the party's base excited and engaged.

...
If Ocasio-Cortez is right, the next few weeks/months hold little good for Democrats. The "Build Back Better" legislation is certain to be pared down in the Senate by the demands of moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona (among others). And then it will be sent back to the House for, effectively, a rubber stamp of approval -- a move that seems certain to further alienate AOC and her liberal colleagues from the process.

Add it up and you get nothing good for Democrats as they try to find their footing ahead of the midterm battle for control of Congress.

 

[lpetrich]

What is it that you say they’re missing?

The talking points are not enough.

Yes, is child care great? Absolutely. Universal pre-K, this is something I’m deeply, deeply supportive of. But we also have too much of a top-down strategy when it comes to our base. We’re always giving them the medicine and telling them what they need to accept, as opposed to really monitoring where the energy is, and being responsive to it. And allowing that to shape our strategy.

...
But doesn’t the White House agree — didn’t it propose a more robust package? The obvious response here is that the administration faces the reality of a 50-50 Senate.

There is an enormous amount of executive action that they’re sitting on that I think is underutilized. On student loans. We’ve got executive action on the table with respect to climate. There are certainly things that we can do with immigration.

I agree. What kind of a leader is he? If Joe Biden doesn't want to seem like some Julius Caesar, sure, but he doesn't get much done in that way.

We always try to tell people why they need to settle for less, instead of being able to harness the energy of our grass roots and take political risks in service of them, the same way that we take political risks in service of swing voters. We can do both.

As if conservative Democrats want the votes of the Democratic base without every doing anything for them.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC calls out the 'enormous' amount of executive power Biden could have on student debt, climate change, and immigration while she's watching him 'hand the pen to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema'
noting
A.O.C. on Why Democrats’ ‘Talking Points Are Not Enough’ - The New York Times

Manchin, Sinema are increasingly receiving campaign contributions from GOP donors: NYT
noting

Over the summer, as he was working to scale back President Biden’s domestic agenda, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia traveled to an $18 million mansion in Dallas for a fund-raiser that attracted Republican and corporate donors who have cheered on his efforts.

In September, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who along with Mr. Manchin has been a major impediment to the White House’s efforts to pass its package of social and climate policy, stopped by the same home to raise money from a similar cast of donors for her campaign coffers.

Even as Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin, both Democrats, have drawn fire from the left for their efforts to shrink and reshape Mr. Biden’s proposals, they have won growing financial support from conservative-leaning donors and business executives in a striking display of how party affiliation can prove secondary to special interests and ideological motivations when the stakes are high enough.

Ms. Sinema is winning more financial backing from Wall Street and constituencies on the right in large part for her opposition to raising personal and corporate income tax rates. Mr. Manchin has attracted new Republican-leaning donors as he has fought against much of his own party to scale back the size of Mr. Biden’s legislation and limit new social welfare components.

According to what KS herself said early in her political career, accepting campaign contributions is "bribery". So by her own admission, she is taking bribes.

This month, the billionaire Wall Street investor Kenneth G. Langone, a longtime Republican megadonor who has not previously contributed to Mr. Manchin, effusively praised him for showing “guts and courage” and vowed to throw “one of the biggest fund-raisers I’ve ever had for him.”

In a statement to The New York Times, Mr. Langone, who has given an overwhelming majority of his millions of dollars in federal political donations to Republicans, said, “My political contributions have always been in support of candidates who are willing to stand tall on principle, even when that means defying their own party or the press.”

What are JM and KS going to say? "Sure, we took their money, but we didn't let it influence us."?

 

[lpetrich]

How Nancy Pelosi Got Biden's Build Back Better Bill Back on Track - The New York Times

"The House’s approval of a sweeping social policy bill after weeks of fits and starts notched another win for the speaker in a career defined by them."

Along the way, Ms. Pelosi, who is known for delivering legislative victories in tough circumstances, was forced repeatedly to pull back from a floor showdown on the bill as she labored to unite the feuding liberal and moderate factions in her caucus. A crucial but less-seen part of her task was sounding out and cajoling a pair of Democratic holdouts in the Senate, Mr. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who were opposed to major elements of Mr. Biden’s plan and had the power to upend whatever delicate deal Ms. Pelosi was able to strike.

It was only after her call with Mr. Manchin at the baseball game that Ms. Pelosi discovered that the West Virginian’s demands were contained in a sort of makeshift contract he had delivered to Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, in late July. The document, which was signed by both men, had been kept secret — including from her — for months.

“I would have liked to have known that,” Ms. Pelosi, said in an interview on Friday, recounting how she felt blindsided. “However, it was what it was.”

A secret deal? That came out in early October, and I don't think that I noticed it.

She is still not done, with the Senate now getting a chance to reshape the measure in the hope of eventually sending it back for final House approval and Mr. Biden’s signature. Mr. Manchin is still demanding major changes, such as the jettisoning of a new four-week paid family and medical leave program that Ms. Pelosi has made a top priority.

But in the weeks since their call, Mr. Manchin has privately expressed an openness to embracing a costlier plan than the one he initially insisted upon, and the speaker now says she is confident that the measure approved by the House will re-emerge from the Senate mostly intact.

“They may want to hone or sharpen this or that, and that’s a negotiation,” Ms. Pelosi said of the Senate. “But 90-some percent of that bill is what it is.”

At this stage, I'm "I'll believe it when I see it".

"And it came in spite of whispers in the corridors of the Capitol that lawmakers no longer feared Ms. Pelosi as much as they had in the past, since she is believed to be nearing the end of her tenure." - meaning that she's a lame duck, someone without much political pull.

In the end, as she did with the financial bailout in 2008, the Obama-era stimulus plan in 2009 and the Affordable Care Act in 2010, among others, Ms. Pelosi found a way to win when it appeared she could lose. This time, she did so with a bill that contains history-making initiatives for the environment and substantial health care, child care, family leave and educational programs that she and her Democratic colleagues have sought for decades.

Then the details of NP's reaching out to KS and JM.

In a discussion with President Biden and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer,

“I’m with ya,” Mr. Biden told Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer of their plans.

“Put an F-word in front of that,” Mr. Schumer said enthusiastically.

“Now that you’ve resorted to that language, I’m going to thank you, Mr. President,” retorted the speaker, who frowns on profanity.

“Nancy does not allow me to curse,” Mr. Schumer responded. “I try to curb my foul mouth in front of her, with some degree of success.”

“Every time I look at Nancy, I think of myself as some altar boy,” said the president.

 

[Derec]

Tax cuts for the (blue state) rich

???

I am talking about SALT deductions.

Right-wingers have been talking about that as if this is some terrible moral lapse, but right-wingers normally argue that rich people should be exempted from taxes because taxing them is "punishing success".

- I am not a right-winger.
- You are straw-manning them anyway. Nobody is saying that "rich people should be exempted from taxes". The rich should and do pay a higher percentage of their earnings as taxes than those less well off.
- The SALT-deduction is very regressive. It only helps the (mostly well-off) minority of taxpayers who itemize, and among those most benefits accrue to those making six figures. It is a very regressive tax break. And it is also a giveaway to those living in Democratic controlled states with high taxes - i.e. it is a partisan giveaway.
- I do not see why somebody making $50k in GA should subsidize somebody making $500k in NY or CA.

I don't see right-wingers saying "Good that the Democrats recognize that success should not be punished. Let's see them apply this principle more generally."

But it is not applied generally in any case, but to the states controlled by Democrats.

Install solar panels and better insulation, build resiliency to wildfires and floods, and lots of other things.

There are already companies installing solar panels and insulation. Any reason why they should be federal employees?

Derec, why don't you read the bill?

Because it is over a 2000 pages long?

From 2016, about the fake newsies of Veles, North Macedonia:

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China or with this Spendapalooza?

 

[lpetrich]

Tax cuts for the (blue state) rich

???

I am talking about SALT deductions.

It felt like pulling teeth to get that response.

- I am not a right-winger. ...

I don't know what Derec would consider right wing.

From 2016, about the fake newsies of Veles, North Macedonia:

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China or with this Spendapalooza?

Because it shows how gullible the Republican base's members often are.

 

[Derec]

Showing Ayanna Pressley in nonbiodegradable polyester.

Leisure Suit Ayanna?

No, thank you. My boys need fresh, cool air to remain comfortable.

You know sometimes they need air, they can't breathe in there. It's inhuman.

Also, this.

 

[Derec]

It felt like pulling teeth to get that response.

Hardly.

I don't know what Derec would consider right wing.

Most Republicans are right wing.

Because it shows how gullible the Republican base's members often are.

Both bases can be gullible. Your point being? Specific to Spendapalooza I mean.

 

[Derec]

High-speed rail is very limited in the US compared to several other countries, like China, Japan, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany.

It has to do with most of these countries being far more compact than US. That said, an eastern seaboard highspeed rail line from Montreal to Miami could possibly work. But it would be significantly slower than flying and so flying would have to become more expensive for it to be attractive. Too bad we can't dig a tunnel through the mantle, or a train ride between any two points would take only 42 minutes and would not take much fuel (assuming minimal friction and drag losses) ...

Turning to urban-transit rail systems, I tried making a list of extensions under construction, planned, and proposed, but I gave up. Check the Transport Politic page for extensions under construction, and I'd have to do a lot of research to come up with a comprehensive list of planned and proposed extensions.

Expanding urban rail systems would indeed be very sensible. I wish for example MARTA Doraville line could go to Gwinnett with Norcross and Duluth stops at least.

 

[Derec]

GOP senators appalled by 'ridiculous' House infighting | TheHill

It is ridiculous infighting! The infrastructure bill was bipartisan with some GOP support in the Senate. Why should it not get support in the House?
Especially when passing BIF first makes it less likely that Spendapalooza will pass Senate, at least not in the form passed by House.

 

[Derec]

17 Nobel Prize–winning economists back Biden’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan

Argument from authority. I have yet to see why flooding the consumers (at least some of them, like wealthy New Yorkers as well as people with children, especially many children) will not be inflationary. And note that since in most years two or three people are awarded the economics Nobel Prize, 17 is hardly most of them.

Part of the reason why we have high inflation right now is that there was a lot of money distributed to people in 2020 - expanded unemployment, stimulus checks, paycheck protection plan that was rife with abuse. These programs were necessary but should have probably been discontinued sooner than they were. In any case, it resulted in more money chasing - due to pandemic - fewer goods and services. Result: inflation.
Now we have $1.2T for infrastructure, which is good and necessary, to add to the money flooding the economy. We should not add to it by expanding entitlements and giving blue state rich a huge (and regressive) tax break.

Edited to add: I looked into this list of 17. It includes Janet Yellen's husband (who has a vested interest in supporting the Biden agenda) and Joseph Stiglitz (who apparently does not think private ownership of land should be allowed).

 

[Derec]

Because we used to have an idea of fairness in the tax code that a dollar would only be taxed once.

I do not agree that state and local taxes amount to a double taxation in that sense. If it were so, why allow state and local governments to tax? Just have "single taxer system" if you are that concerned with taxing a dollar twice.
Why should states and localities impose high taxes but then have those taxes subsidized by citizens of other states/locales via SALT deduction? Not to mention that SALT deduction is only available to those who itemize their deductions in the first place.

 

[lpetrich]

Showing Ayanna Pressley in nonbiodegradable polyester.

Leisure Suit Ayanna?

Non-biodegradable plastics aren't much of a problem for anything persistent, like clothing.

I don't know what Derec would consider right wing.

Most Republicans are right wing.

Derec, what's your disagreement with them?

 

[lpetrich]

High-speed rail is very limited in the US compared to several other countries, like China, Japan, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany.

It has to do with most of these countries being far more compact than US. ...

 List of states and territories of the United States by population density -  List of countries and dependencies by population density
I'll use per square kilometer.

China: 149, though most of it's HSR development is in the populous eastern half. The western half is thinly populated mountains and deserts and plateaus. That suggests a figure near 300 where the HSR lines are.

Japan: 337, South Korea: 511, Taiwan: 652, France: 118, Spain: 92, Italy: 201, Germany: 223 -- high-speed lines are spread over much of the territory of each nation.

Now for US states. The Northeast Corridor is the closest that the US gets to HSR. The states that it runs through: MA 336, RI 394, CT 286, NY 162, NJ 470, PA 110, DE 187, MD 238, DC 4251 -- the best comparison is states mostly near the line, like CT and RI, and to a lesser extent, MA, NJ, DE, and MD. Most of NY's land area is upstate NY, and most of PA's land area is away from its southeastern corner, where the line is.

So the NEC has plenty of density. Let us now look at the peripheral states, ME 16, NH 57, VT 26, VA 81. Going to Florida: NC 79, SC 62, GA 68, FL 145

What I like to call Greater Chicagoland: IL 89, MI 67, OH 109, IN 71, MO 34, IA 21, MN 26, WI 41 -- a bit stretching it. Going further westward: ND 4, SD 4, NE 9, KS 14, OK 22 -- Not very suited for HSR. The mountain states are also thinly populated, and it's on the west coast that it becomes better for HSR: CA 97, OR 16, WA 41. Finally, TX 40.

So the density argument does not hold much water.

 

[ZiprHead]

17 Nobel Prize–winning economists back Biden’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan

Argument from authority. I have yet to see why flooding the consumers (at least some of them, like wealthy New Yorkers as well as people with children, especially many children) will not be inflationary. And note that since in most years two or three people are awarded the economics Nobel Prize, 17 is hardly most of them.

appeal to authority​

You said that because an authority thinks something, it must therefore be true.​

It's important to note that this fallacy should not be used to dismiss the claims of experts, or scientific consensus. Appeals to authority are not valid arguments, but nor is it reasonable to disregard the claims of experts who have a demonstrated depth of knowledge unless one has a similar level of understanding and/or access to empirical evidence.