'GOP Isn't Going to Meet Us Halfway' "It's time to go alone--and get this done"

[StrictlyRockers]

'GOP Isn't Going to Meet Us Halfway': Top Progressive Presses Biden to Cut Off Infrastructure Talks With Republicans

"It's time to go alone—and get this done," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

As President Joe Biden prepared to continue talks with the Senate GOP's lead infrastructure negotiator on Wednesday, progressive Democrats in Congress implored the White House to stop wasting precious time wrangling with a party that has repeatedly shown it is uninterested in pursuing an adequate legislative package.

"It's time to go big, bold, and fast on an infrastructure plan that repairs bridges and roads—but also guarantees paid leave and child care," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said late Tuesday. "The GOP isn't going to meet us halfway. It's time to go alone—and get this done."

"Time is tick, tick, ticking past. Every day spent on hopeless bipartisanship is a day not spent on climate." —Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse

Last week, a group of Republican senators unveiled the outlines of an infrastructure proposal that called for just $257 billion in new spending over eight years—a far cry from the $1.7 trillion in above-baseline spending Biden offered as a compromise proposal. Republicans flatly rejected that offer as excessive, even though the president lopped roughly $500 billion off his initial American Jobs Plan.

Progressive lawmakers, and even some centrists, have grown increasingly frustrated in recent weeks as Biden's talks with the GOP have predictably moved toward less spending as Republican negotiators attempt to strip out key climate proposals and other measures they consider extraneous, including eldercare.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/06/02/gop-isnt-going-meet-us-halfway-top-progressive-presses-biden-cut-infrastructure

[pwb]

1. Pukes like to talk and then vote no.

Some day that will sink in. Votes talk.

[StrictlyRockers]

2. "It's time to go big, bold, and fast on an infrastructure plan"

Link to tweet

[msongs]

3. so does Jayapal have the votes lined up to pass anything without repub help? nt

[Bettie]

4. Do you see any scenario in which

we get ANY Republicans votes in the Senate?

They'll water it down to practically nothing and STILL vote against it, simply out of spite.

[maxsolomon]

10. In the House, certainly.

the Senate? Jesus of Nazareth could be Dem. Majority Leader and wouldn't get a single vote.

[Faygo Kid]

5. Hear, Hear!

Trying to negotiate is a waste of time. We elected you Dems to advance the American dream, not give it up to Mitch McConnell et al. NOW DO IT! This may be your last chance to save all of us.

[Lonestarblue]

6. McConnell has already told Dems that his goal is to stop all of the Biden agenda.

What do they not understand about his obstruction? It is not new. It delayed recovery from the Great Recession by as much as two years solely to hurt Obama, no matter how many people suffered no jobs and foreclosure of their homes. Waiting for Republicans to do anything positive isn’t like waiting for bricks to melt in the rain—not gonna happen.

I suspect that the majority of people do not care if the jobs and infrastructure has Republican support. Polls show excellent support for the bill, so just get it done already.

[NBachers]

7. Remember how eager the pious republicans were to invite us to negotiate when they held Congress?

[spanone]

8. We negotiated for the 1/6 commission. Gave them everything they wanted. They voted 'NO'.

[Joinfortmill]

9. Time to play hardball.

[Beartracks]

11. The country elected Dems to do a 180-degree turn. Gotta keep GOP hands off the wheel to do that.

If Republican policies and priorities were worth anything, we wouldn't be in most of the messes in which we find ourselves. Why should we negotiate with a bloc of legislators that don't know how or simply don't care to get this nation where we so obviously need to go? By the time we water anything down to MAYBE get 10 Republican votes: 1) the legislation won't accomplish what it must accomplish, and so 2) Republicans will of course argue that government obviously can't solve anything, and anyway 3) those 10 Republicans will NOT inspire more Republican support but rather will get run out of office on a rail by their party.

Accomplishing the goals is more important than getting a couple Republicans on-board to call the watered-down legislation bipartisan. The GOP is wasting America's time.

==============

[SoonerPride]

12. They would negotiate and agree to a small package

And then everyone of them would vote against it.

So why not just vote in a big package without them to begin with?

[Hortensis]

13. Large numbers of people WANT bipartisanship, notably many

in swing districts we must win. It's time move ahead when even people who aren't really paying much attention at all (almost everyone) realize -- in spite of being flooded with RW lies -- that we really, sincerely tried but the Republicans are making it impossible.

As for the ardent types being impatient, couldn't be any other way. That's pretty much their chronic condition and the constant frustration that comes with it their burden. Bless their hearts.

[Ace Rothstein]

14. I don't even think the Republicans would vote Yes on a purely Republican plan.

They don't want to give Biden anything that can be perceived as a win. Nothing is going to get done with the filibuster in place, severely depressing our turnout next year just like '94 and '10.