Dems see a $1 trillion-plus deal within reach -- but not until next week

[brooklynite]

Politico

Democrats are inching closer to a deal on President Joe Biden's social spending plan, though likely not until next week.

Biden had breakfast with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday as Democrats close in on a deal on Biden’s social spending plan, prompting an upbeat assessment from the California Democrat. Still, several sources with knowledge of the intensifying talks said they doubted a deal could come together anything this week given where things stand between Biden and Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

But Democrats head into the final week of October with far more clarity from that duo than they began, giving the party increasing confidence it can land a framework for the bill this month. Talks will spill into the weekend, with both chambers gone until Monday.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed upbeat as she returned from the White House, telling reporters she believed a deal was within reach. Still, she declined to say whether the House could vote on either the social spending bill or the Senate-passed infrastructure bill next week, remarking only that "I'm very optimistic."

[dsc]

1. Frankly the Senate really seemed not to take its job seriously here

The House got their work done months ago and the Senate just seemed to say "Hakuta Matata" and "Let's procrastinate". Instead of, we are paid north of 150k per year so maybe we ought to do our work.

[MichMan]

7. Disregarding the BIB that was passed by the Senate 10 weeks ago and has been held up in the House

[dsc]

8. The Senate was told, in no uncertain terms, that they wanted reconciliation first

they passed their part of that months ago (before the Senate passed the infrastructure bill it should be noted).

[MichMan]

9. Majority leader Schumer didn't follow their orders for some reason

The House also promised twice (Sept 27 & Sept 30) that they would put the BIB up for a vote only to postpone at the last minute.

[SoCalDavidS]

2. Not Too Bad, Great Job!

Bill only went from $3.5 Trillion to somewhere in excess of $1 Trillion.

[msongs]

3. bypass the middle-woman and give all the $$ directly to campaign donors nt

[harumph]

4. Politico has changed hands

Axel Springer SE, a German publisher, announced in August 2021 that it had agreed to buy Politico for over $1 billion. The closing is set to take place in late October 2021.

Axel also owner of Bild is a known right-wing news conglomerate.

https://fortune.com/2021/08/27/politico-acquisition-axel-springer-dominate-digital-publishing-democratic-world/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/business/media/axel-springer-bild-julian-reichelt.html

[Blaukraut]

5. So after reading the article, it looks like $1.5T-$2T, depending on M and S

Sounds better than the headline: 1 trillion plus.

[texasfiddler]

6. Typical Politico title.