Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

People are complicated. Love is not.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Republicans do not trust women.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I really should read my own blog.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

People are weird.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / What If We Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is?

What If We Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is?

by | 139 Comments

This post is in: ,

How many times have we said here that we should frame whatever we get as the victory it is, instead of focusing on what we don’t get?  How we’re tired of promoting the talking points of the other side as we talk about how angry and frustrated we are?

What if we actually did that here on Balloon Juice?

What if we put our money where our mouth is?  And by money, I don’t mean money.

What if a front-pager put up a post every day (Mon-Fri) about one of the things that will be addressed with this bill?  What if we talked about each piece of the plan in turn?  How it will make a difference in our lives, the lives of friends, family, people we know.  People who matter.

When we’re done with that, what if we talked about the offsets and how those could work to make our society more fair and equitable?   How this could help change the world?

Would anyone read such a post?

If the answer is yes, would more than one front-pager be interested in contributing to this?

Full list from Biden’s Revised Build Back Better Framework is below the fold.

President Biden is expected to speak at 11:30 (LIVE)

The Build Back Better Act will create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, spur long-term growth, reduce price pressures and set the United States on course to meet its clean energy ambitions.

Investments in Children, Families and Caregiving that Grow the Economy’s Capacity

Universal Preschool for all 3- and 4-year Olds: Expand access to free high-quality preschool for more than 6 million children. This is a long-term program, with funding for six years.

Affordable High Quality Child Care: Limit child care costs for families to no more than 7% of income, for families earning up to 250% of state median income. It enables states to expand access to about 20 million children. Parents must be working, seeking work, in training or taking care of a serious health issue. This is a long-term program, with funding for six years.

Affordable, High-Quality Care for Hundreds of Thousands of Older Americans and People with Disabilities in Their Homes and Communities: Strengthening an existing program through Medicaid and ending the existing backlog and improving working conditions for home care workers.

Expanded Child Tax Credit: Extend for one year the current expanded Child Tax Credit for more than 35 million American households, with monthly payments for households earning up to $150,000 per year. Make refundability of the Child Tax Credit permanent.

Investments in Clean Energy and Combatting Climate Change

Clean Energy Tax Credits ($320 billion): Ten-year expanded tax credits for utility-scale and residential clean energy, transmission and storage, clean passenger and commercial vehicles, and clean energy manufacturing.

Resilience Investments ($105 billion): Investments and incentives to address extreme weather (wildfires, droughts, and hurricanes, including in forestry, wetlands, and agriculture), legacy pollution in communities, and a Civilian Climate Corps.

Investments and Incentives for Clean Energy Technology, Manufacturing, and Supply Chains ($110 billion): Targeted incentives to spur new domestic supply chains and technologies, like solar, batteries, and advanced materials, while boosting the competitiveness of existing industries, like steel, cement, and aluminum.

Clean Energy Procurement ($20 billion): Provide incentives for government to be purchaser of next gen technologies, including long-duration storage, small modular reactors, and clean construction materials.

Affordable Care for Millions of Hardworking Americans

Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credits: Extend the expanded Affordable Care Act premium tax credits through 2025. Experts predict that more than 3 million people who would otherwise be uninsured will gain health insurance. Also make Affordable Care Act premium tax credits available through 2025 to 4 million uninsured people in uncovered states.

Allow Medicare to cover the cost of hearing. Establish a hearing benefit in Medicare, a crucial benefit to our seniors for a reasonable cost.

Bringing Down Costs, Reducing Inflationary Pressures, and Strengthening the Middle Class

Housing: $150 billion investment in housing affordability and reducing price pressures, including in rural areas. Funds go towards building, preserving, and improving more than 1 million affordable rental and single-family homes, including public housing, plus rental and down payment assistance.

Education Beyond High School and Workforce Development: Reduce costs and expand access to education beyond high school by raising the maximum Pell grant, providing support to Historically Black Colleges & Universities (“HBCUs”), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Minority Serving Institutions (“MSIs”), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (“TCUs”), and investing in workforce development, including community college workforce programs, sector-based training, and apprenticeships.

Earned Income Tax Credit for 17 Million Low-Wage Workers: Extend for one year the current expanded Earned Income Tax Credit for childless workers.

Equity and Other Investments: Other targeted investments including maternal health, community violence initiatives, Native communities, disadvantaged farmers, nutrition, pandemic preparedness, supply chain resilience, and other areas.

Improve Our Immigration System Consistent with the Senate’s Reconciliation Rules.

No details under this one!  I wonder what that means.

 

Reader Interactions

139Comments

  2. 2.

    Constance Reader

    What if this post were unnecessary because our elected congress allowed the country to fix what needs to be fixed in the first place?  What if this post were unnecessary because we weren’t so far behind every other developed country on the planet in taking care of our people and making not-rich people’s lives not totally suck?  What if this post were unnecessary because we were already taking the measures we need to be taking to ensure climate change doesn’t wipe out most habitable land and the human race in 50 years? What if we just did what needed to be done and go on with it?  Instead of trying to make shit look like shinola by singing alleluia for what inadequate things we did do?

  7. 7.

    Almost Retired

    I like it!  Although I’ll fasten my seat belt for the inevitable turbulence coming from all the “glass is fucking empty” commenters.

  8. 8.

    hueyplong

    Remember when the GOP House passed like 60 bills killing the ACA and then they got control of the presidency and both houses and still couldn’t kill the ACA?  That’s what failure is.

    BBB ain’t that (assuming it gets signed– I’m not superstitious, but I don’t like to cast any whammies).

  11. 11.

    Baud

    @hueyplong:

    The GOP is credited with strength by what they attempt to do. Our side is saddled with derision for what we haven’t accomplished yet.   Them’s the rules.

  12. 12.

    cain

    @hueyplong: Because it is all performative art – everything they do is that. They know goddam well that if they actually killed it they’d be dead in the water. Of course, they are working hard to make sure that the voters never get a chance to kick them out.

  14. 14.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Wonderful idea!!!

    We (the Left in general, not just BJ) don’t have a RightWing Puke Funnel media empire to do the work for us.  But we have lots of people who are committed to progressive change, protecting Democracy etc.  We have to do the work ourselves.  So many of us spend so much time online, commenting, arguing etc.  Why not put that time to more constructive use by spreading our gospel and try to force Twitter and the MSM to start talking about what WE want to talk about.

    PS- This would also pair rather perfectly with the messaging project (based on tested, evidence-based framings) that we’ve been discussing.

  15. 15.

    hueyplong

    @Baud: Gotta agree.  Lots of scare stories about the California recall and then, 10 minutes after the networks called it, silence.

    Same true about killing the ACA.

    The tell is always what makes a story stop altogether.  It’s pretty much always the Dems surviving whatever the topic was.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    Thank you.

    Democrats always have headwinds getting messages out in the MSM.  E.g. AP has a story on a NORC poll up that says Biden, Dems get low points on the BBB talks.  :-\

    We don’t have to sing kumbaya, but we should always celebrate incremental progress and build on it.  Nobody else will do it for us.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  19. 19.

    H.E.Wolf

    I have to thank Tonstant Weader (hat tip, Dorothy Parker) for the lift to my spirits. Such to-the-letter predictability struck my funnybone in just the right way this morning.

    In answer to WaterGirl’s question: yes, I’d read the heck out of those posts. The summaries on that list are very appealing.

    Starting late and behind-hand is one thing. Refusing to help, when we do start? Nyet, comrade. некультурный. :)

  20. 20.

    guachi

    I’d like a series of posts on what Biden wants in the BBB and what eventually gets passed so I can see what I’d like to still get accomplished.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    Is anyone interested in speculating about this, which is at the bottom of their list.

    Improve Our Immigration System Consistent with the Senate’s Reconciliation Rules.

    No details under this one!  I have no idea what that means.

  23. 23.

    Woodrow/asim

    @Constance Reader: My family was blocked from accessing huge chunks of the New Deal, for no reason other than the color of our skin.

    But we got there. And we keep fighting, day and night, to move the score — because we, among a lot of marginalized people living in America, know that the only way to fix things for real, is to get the laws passed.

    For the people this will help? For the money going to fix things? This bill is Not Shit. You need to take that outta your mouth, because it’s a bullshit way to actually move positive change forward in any democracy.

    It’s one thing to criticize, and even to use “all-or-nothing” as legitimate leverage, knowing the process. Quite another to demand “all-or-nothing” as if “all” would fix every problem in America. Even if we got the whole 5 or 6 Trillion, we’d still have issues that need work! So yes, we get what helps people, and gets passed today, and we keep fighting.

  26. 26.

    cain

    /r/politics on reddit is filled with bellyaching – you should have seen the AMA with Schiff. It was all a lot of “why aren’t you fighting?!”, “FUCK! FIGHT!” followed by “You have failed me for the last time”

  29. 29.

    Baud

    I heard this morning that this list was out together somewhat hastily because of Biden’s trip.  It’ll be interesting to see some of the details when they come out.

  32. 32.

    Woodrow/asim

    …sorry, I should have responded to this wonderful post, first!

    YES! Please post, and I will read (when I can…)

    I agree that we Progressives need that kind of pushback against the dominant media narrative that says that Compromise is Evil. That’s some GOP-style crap, and not actually part of a democracy.

  33. 33.

    narya

    YES. PLEASE. I would love to see David Anderson-type explainers for each thing. Or Dick Mayhew; he was good too. ;-)

  35. 35.

    JMS

    It occurs to me that in a functioning government this type of negotiation would be happening between two political parties and not within one with the other one completely abdicating. I think the expectations would be more reasonable in that case.

    We do need an explainer AFTER the final version is passed and signed. Anything before is going to lead to confusion and disappointment. And if anyone complains after, the answer is to elect more Democrats, period.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    “Compromise and (conversation??) are the only way to get things done in a democracy.”  Emphasis on democracy.

    We face an inflection point. … We invested in our people and our families.  We built a highway to the sky.

    Free education for all children, from the 1800s.  But somewhere along the way …

  38. 38.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Another Scott: In tennis, we teach that you always acknowledge the negative but focus on the positive.  Like, “okay I lost that point, but I’M STILL WINNING, it’s not over yet” etc.  The goal is to always be looking to improve and fixing things that need fixing, but never to fall into the trap of obsessing on them so much that you spiral into playing even worse.  There is tremendous power in positivity when you’re in a long fight with many ups and downs.  The best champions (especially Nadal, and Serena) are well known for this quality.  They lose an excruciating point or set and then they mentally reset, come right back and pretend it didn’t happen and keep trying.  This is essentially what we need to do with situations like the BBB/Infrastructure.  Focus on the positive to stay in the fight and get the rest of the stuff we wanted.

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @UncleEbeneezer: In other sports, they talk about needing a “short memory.”  If you get beaten, figure out why and how to keep it from happening again and then move on.

  42. 42.

    Tim C

    I wish I was technical enough to post a gif of Chewbacca cheering in rage and agreement with this post.

  48. 48.

    guachi

    @WaterGirl: 

    I guess I should have said I’d like two series – one for what Biden wants in the BBB (presumably that isn’t changing hour to hour based on what Sinema has for lunch that day).

    And the second for whatever actually passes.

  51. 51.

    HinTN

    I like your style,  @WaterGirl: or to quote an old lyric,

    You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, don’t mess with Mr Inbetween.

    Let’s do this!

  53. 53.

    VOR

    @hueyplong:  I got a flyer yesterday about my local school board election. There is an organized slate of candidates running on a shared anti-CRT and anti-masking platform. Their website complains the current school board is “woke and progressive”. Somebody is funding this stuff, just like the astro-turfed Tea Party protests in 2010.

  54. 54.

    bluefoot

    We’ve already shown that we can make a difference with voting rights and outreach. So I am all for finding ways and exchanging ideas for doing more, finding new approaches, and even communication plans for getting the not-very-online community to understand the bill or access resources. For instance, the regular healthcare/health insurance posts are consistently great and informative, and have actually helped me help some people in my life.

  55. 55.

    CaseyL

    Yes! This I s a great idea and I would definitely read the posts. I’d also spread the word, though my social circle isn’t very large.

    Still, it might be useful for people like my Aunt, who has way too many GQPers in her social circle, and listens to them way too much.

  61. 61.

    Ksmiami

    @Almost Retired: our system was designed for failure in a sense… Big changes are long and slow except for war decisions. The us government wasn’t designed to offer big solutions all at once. Unfortunately we are living in a moment when technology and the issues at hand require quick and large scale solutions. I don’t know how we square the circle without a huge upgrade in our system of government first. That said, anything to sell is up my alley

  63. 63.

    Woodrow/asim

    @VOR: Somebody is funding this stuff

    Indeed:

    One of these top-level funders since the beginning of the modern push against public education is the infamous Council for National Policy (CNP), one of the most active and powerful nonprofits in the country. In 2019, CNP’s revenue totaled nearly $3 million.[…]

    Another conservative group with a huge amount of influence is the Leadership Institute, a training organization for political operatives operating out of Virginia. The Institute was founded by Morton Blackwell, a former CNP member. The Leadership Institute is primarily a project of the Koch network, a group of conservative foundations and PACs organized by the billionaire Koch family. They’ve also received money from the DeVos and Prince families, as well as the Cato Institute and the Bradley Foundation. They are part of the State Policy Network, a Koch donor program that spent over $16 million on campus programs for young conservatives across the country.

    From https://unicornriot.ninja/2021/school-board-disruptions-escalate-funded-by-conservative-dark-money/

    And more on the Leadership Institute’s bullshit here.

    In short: the information is out there. We don’t need to guess or speculate. There’s good, solid reporting on these topics, reporting we oftentimes don’t notice because those outlets don’t get the views more mainstream ones grab.

    But it’s useful information, nontheless.

  64. 64.

    Fair Economist

    Brilliant! And don’t forget the good stuff on the revenue side. The corporate minimum tax is *fantastic*.

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I was trying not to overwhelm you guys with too much information at once.

    I plan to put this in a separate post, but here’s the preview:

    Offsets:

    Ask Largest Corporations and Highest Income Americans to Pay Fair Share and Reduce Cost of Prescription Drugs

    The plan is more than fully paid for by asking the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations to pay their fair share. It does not raise taxes on small business and anyone making less than $400,000 per year. It will also generate economic growth that will increase tax revenue and contribute to deficit reduction.

    Stop Profitable Corporations from Paying Zero in Tax and Stop Rewarding Corporations That Buyback Stock Rather than Invest in the Company

    15% Corporate Minimum Tax on Large Corporations
    1% Surcharge on Corporate Stock Buybacks

    Stop Rewarding Corporations for Shipping Jobs and Profits Overseas

    Global Minimum Tax: Consistent with OECD and with appropriate effective date for 15%, Country-by-Country
    Penalty Rate for Foreign Corporations Based in Non-Compliant Countries (i.e. Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax)
    Ask Highest Income Americans to Pay Their Fair Share

    New Surtax on Multi-Millionaires and Billionaires

    Close Medicare Self-Employment Tax Loophole by Strengthening the Net Investment Income Tax for Those Making Over $400,000

    Continue Limitation on Excess Business Losses
    Tax Compliance

    Invest in IRS Enforcement.

    Repeal of Trump Administration Rebate Rule, Which Would Have Increased Seniors’ Drug Premium

     

  71. 71.

    stinger

    WaterGIrl, thanks for the topic of this post and for the BIden speech link (to which I came late), and for all the other important speech links you provide. YES, I’d read those posts (probably late).

  74. 74.

    cain

    @Baud: Yep – lot of bernie bros there. My brother is one of those types who is constantly yelling about how weak we all are. I’ve proven him wrong every time for every gloom and doom convo we have. I told him stop watching Young Turks. :D

  75. 75.

    stinger

    So I’ve gone back to the beginning of his speech (about 42:30) and am struck, as so often, by the prominence Biden gives to his VP. Whether he plans to seek a second term or not, he seems to be doing everything in his power to position her as his successor. And more power to that! She was my first choice in the primary–and he was on my Please Don’t Run list. Of course, she dropped out and now I’m so glad he’s President. But I still want President Kamala!

  77. 77.

    taumaturgo

    @Baud: What if we didn’t have a small set of lefties corporate democrats who acted as auxiliaries of the Republican party?

  81. 81.

    cain

    @VOR:

    @hueyplong:  I got a flyer yesterday about my local school board election. There is an organized slate of candidates running on a shared anti-CRT and anti-masking platform. Their website complains the current school board is “woke and progressive”. Somebody is funding this stuff, just like the astro-turfed Tea Party protests in 2010.

    Yep they are.. I’ve seen it here in Portland Metro area. It’s probably DeVos family – they’ve got an ax to grind against public education. All of this is to turn public sentiment against public schools.

  84. 84.

    Benw

    Thanx for this post WG! I’m all about positive informative posts!

    6 years of funding for child care and Pre-K is a big deal, I think! Once people have settled into year six of those programs they will be extremely hard to kill.

    Benw’s self control 0 – Halloween candy 1

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @Benw: WaterGirl Halloween Candy rules:

    • Buy candy at the last minute, if possible.
    • If need to buy early, lock it in the car or something.
    • Buy stuff you don’t personally like.
    • Or just say fuck it, it’s only once a year.
  86. 86.

    taumaturgo

    @Woodrow/asim: Even if we got the whole 5 or 6 Trillion, we’d still have issues that need work!

    This is billionaires’ logic and that is why they always win. Never satisfied they want it all.

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Anyway: Sure, we are.  You don’t think that we need to see and celebrate our wins?  Plus, with a repository of info, we can help spread the news.

  88. 88.

    Joy in FL

    I would read those posts. I think explicitly framing the issue to show the benefits would be helpful and may help people like me have better (more fact-based) conversations.

  94. 94.

    zhena gogolia

    @Anyway: I AM THE AUDIENCE FOR IT

    The doom posting demoralizes me. I need some encouragement. I can still remember what things were like a mere year ago. Or Jan. 6.

  95. 95.

    hueyplong

    To Woodrow’s first point, Ira Katznelson, in “Fear Itself,” gives some extended treatment to the devil’s bargain FDR made with tenured southern senators to get the New Deal through.

    Manchin is sweetness itself compared to those assholes.

  96. 96.

    Kropacetic

    WG this is an excellent idea. It is definitely reassuring to finally be hearing what is in the bill rather than what’s out or if it will even happen.

    I remember a FP recently talking about positive and/or stories getting less engagement than where there’s conflict. Perhaps we can think of ways to drive engagement around these. Activities or calls to action? The comedy stylings of our esteemed FPs and commentariat?

  98. 98.

    Benw

    @WaterGirl: Benw’s logic:

    a. I only get 1-2 Trick or Treaters each year,

    b. Therefore, I need candy, but I’ll have to eat what doesn’t get taken,

    c. Therefore, get candy I like,

    d. Since it never all gets taken, it doesn’t matter whether I start eating before Halloween,

    e. Therefore, fuck it, go crazy and start eating on the way home from the store QED.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @Anyway: Maybe you’re right.  Or maybe you’re not.

    My sister, who would never read this blog, benefitted greatly from Anne Laurie’s covid posts, and so did my non political friends.  Because I learned the info and shared with them.

    BJ in good times gets 89,000 unique sets of eyeballs in a month.  John Cole’s twitter has 12,000 followers.  So it’s not just the commenters who see our posts, it’s a boatload of people.

    Does that information affect your assessment at all?

  101. 101.

    cain

    lol – my twitter feed blew up because I had the temerity to tell people that incrementalism is how things work and boy I got some angry responses. :-) (and that was when I posted last night) I find it funny that we are talking about it today.

  102. 102.

    hueyplong

    This is the doomiest place other than [checks notes] every other one I’ve ever visited.

    It’s positively triumphalist compared to LGM.

  103. 103.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @WaterGirl: That’s great.  Part of the goal is to not even see it as “messing up” but simply as “missing.”  Missing shots is part of the game.  Everyone misses shots.  The best players keep swinging/spiking etc. away.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    The problem is NONE OF THIS IS IN THE BILL BECAUSE THERE IS NO BILL!!!! What there is, right now, is the  third or fourth proposed framework for what Biden will accept at a minimum in a reconciliation bill. There is no legislation written from that framework yet. There is no clear, firm, unequivocal commitment from either Manchin or Sinema that they’ll support a reconciliation bill written to Biden’s framework. And the House progressives just made it pretty clear they don’t trust either of them enough to take the leap of faith and pass the regular order infrastructure bill through the House unless it is tethered to the reconciliation bill. Which, and again, DOES NOT CURRENTLY EXIST!!!!

    We live in the real world. We don’t live in fantasy land where things just work out because they always sort of, if you squint from a certain angle, have in the past. There’s nothing to post on what is in the bill each week because what may or may not be in the bill changes several times an hour because neither Manchin nor Sinema will actually clearly, firmly, and unequivocally commit to anything. There’s a reason that as good a communicator as Jayapal has demonstrated she is through all of this insanity for the past several month, Jayapal won’t get into specifics because she doesn’t have any specifics to go into. There’s what she and her caucus want, there’s what they’ll support if Biden says support it, and there’s the reality that all that exists on the Senate Democratic side is a constantly shifting list of what might, possibly be included depending on what time of the day someone asks Manchin and/or Sinema about it.

  108. 108.

    Czar Chasm

    @WaterGirl  I’d be down with the daily posts.

     

    Aside rant:  I came down with COVID this week.  I’m pissed because despite all the measures my family and I performed (always masked inside public places, avoiding crowded or well-ventilated stores and restaurants, quarantining when kids first develop sniffles), I still managed to contract it because an IT person at my job refused to mask anytime he went to a site for service, and he seemed to have been a spreader.

     

    This is a fella that is center-left & vaxxed, yet still displayed enough arrogance to not mask up.  He works three doors down from  me, and we spent half of Friday afternoon upgrading my work computer, which is where the infection likely occurred.  He’s also out because of COVID, but his laissez-faire attitude has now put my family and many others at risk.

     

    That, as well as the fact that my county administration has had the WORST response and protocol in the region since late May.

  109. 109.

    Eljai

    I’d love to see more posts on good things about BBB.  I do believe that it will pass, along with the infrastructure bill.  And when that happens we should promote the fuck out of it, even if it’s amongst ourselves.  We all interact with others in our daily lives, so we all have an opportunity to make an impact.  I think one of the biggest mistakes that led to our losing the House in 2010 was Democrats not taking credit for the improvements made.  Some of that was understandable because there may have been reluctance to crow about achievements when people are still struggling.  But we need a way to get around that so we don’t feed into the “nothing matters” misery narratives.  Pulling the economy out of the sewer and passing the ACA was a big fucking deal, even if we still had more to do.

  112. 112.

    slybrarian

    The fact that Sinemachin still refuse to commit to anything even as the president talks up the deal makes me think Jayapal and her senate allies are right to refuse to commit to passing BIF until the text is available and agreed on.

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    @Czar Chasm: I’m so sorry to hear that.  I, too, have been really careful and would be infuriated if I were you.  I had one exposure scare, and I was so mad at myself for not being super-careful in one particular situation.

    Worrisome, maddening, infuriating… all the -ing words.  I hope you have the mildest of cases and that your family makes it through without getting it.  I have 2 friends who managed not to get Covid from their husbands, and 1 sister who did get Covid from her husband.

    You have to be careful all the time, and it sucks, but it can be done.  Never in the same room at the same time, no hugging, etc.

  115. 115.

    The Moar You Know

    @Constance Reader: if this bill gets $1 into the hands of someone who needs it it’s worth doing.

    In the meantime, why don’t you do something constructive and shut the fuck up?

  118. 118.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Baud: And unfortunately we DO (Manchin/Sinema suck pretty hard) and we absolutely need them to get anything passed, so… there we go. They’ll tank the entire thing (and might still) if they don’t get what they want, and they’ve been disingenuous assholes for months about it.

    But we gotta deal with that. And even WITH them, this framework has a huge amount of positive stuff in it. If we can’t get Manchin’s buy-in on other provisions (and we literally just spent months trying with zero success) then this is what we get. There’s a lot that’s good in it. Let’s crow about it.

  122. 122.

    SiubhanDuinne

    WG, I hope your fellow front-pagers will seize this and run with it.

    TAKE THE FUCKING WIN! And proclaim it far and near!

     

    I need succinct talking points, not only for my few RWNJ relations (if they’re not blood kin, I don’t even mess with them) but for my far more numerous “liberal/progressive” friends who never pass up an opportunity to bash the Democratic Party, Democratic leadership, and Democrats in general.

    The two groups, as others have noted, are essentially indistinguishable.

  127. 127.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    “Fuck trickle-down economics.”

    This might be a paraphrase.

    It might be a paraphrase, or it might be a spoonerism.

    “Truck fickle-down economics.”
    “Frick tuckle-down economics.”
    “Dick fruckle-town economics.”
    “Duck tickle-frown economics.”

    Et cetera.

  129. 129.

    Czar Chasm

    @WaterGirl:  Thanks for that.  I’m in full isolation mode now:

    • Staying in my daughter’s bedroom, while she sleeps on a different floor with Mom & Little Brother.  My floor also has a separate bathroom.
    • Meals are brought up to me & left outside the room; dishes are picked up later.
    • The outside world exists as a sole combination of my mobile, remote access to my work computer, & semi-daily walks with our dog.

    It’s been harder on my partner, The Lady:  She’s dealing with taking care of two small kids & the household, as they all stay home due to quarantine; while also working remotely in her public mental health job.

     

    I recognize that we’re fortunate to have enough living space to have this arrangement, and I feel more deeply for families and households with less space for co-existence.

  130. 130.

    StringOnAStick

    I love your idea, Watergirl, for a lot of reasons.  One of which is that I feel we get so deep in the weeds here that when I interact with a political normie, I don’t have any ready to go statements about what concerns or opinions they have.  Example: I met a nice guy, definitely a D who when redistricting came up around the dinner table he said “I don’t understand how that works and how they can do what they are doing” (referring to the OR redistricting plan that basically told the obstructionist R’s to go pound sand).  If I’d been spending more time on the positives and especially the reasons, I wouldn’t have been caught flat footed while the conversation immediately moved on.  Instead I was thinking in terms of “screw the R’s, we have to fight!”.  I knew from here and from reading local media that the D’s had offered an equal footing in good faith, the R’s went completely obstructionist with it so the state Senate Majority leader said fine, you fucked around and now you found out; D’s are in majority control now”.  But when I’d hear the story on local NPR, nothing about the R obstruction that led the D leader to pull the offer of equal standing in the redistricting commission, just that “the Senate leader went back on that offer”.

    We can be part of what needs to happen with getting the message of what good things have happened and/or why certain things are happening.  If the media won’t do it, then we can by speaking up locally, letters to the editor, voicemail to radio station shows, etc.  If we get loud enough then the media will have to start covering it, at least a little better than they do now.

  131. 131.

    gwangung

    @Czar Chasm: Dammit….that’s tough to hear.

    And when we have so many assholes like this in the general population, is it any wonder we have assholes in Congress that are gumming up the works?

  132. 132.

    Geminid

     

     

    @WaterGirl: I would like to see a post describing all of the Biden administration’s climate initiatives. Those in both infrastructure bills, and administrative actions by the Departments of Energy, Interior, Agriculture, Transportation, and Defense. When Ron Klain finally gets around to calling me I’ll tell him to email you a good fact sheet.

  138. 138.

    Ruckus

    @Woodrow/asim:

    You said it very well.

    Thank you.

    No matter the color of your skin or your birth background, progress is never, ever better than slow and hard work. Demanding everything including the pony in one shot almost always gets one squat. Agreement between 330 million people about anything in money/politics is the definition of impossible.

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I worked in pro sports not as a competitor but an official for 20 yrs as a hobby and 11 yrs as a full time professional in a sport I competed in as an amateur for very few years. You just described all sports, professional or amateur. No one gets everything every play, every lap, every inning, every period. Especially when you play at the top level. Because the top level is a very fine point and even if you fall off that point only a teeny tiny bit, there is almost always someone else there to pick up that teeny tiny bit and kick your ass. Sort of like real life.

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