Biden doing okay in wheeling and dealing within Dems. I don't agree that everything in the bill is necessary for the "stimulus" but this is political sausage making 101 so he had to agree to some pork here and there.

I am cautiously optimistic that some GOP moderates can see real evidence Biden is willing to deal (e.g. give out pork for votes) and start playing the game pre-Obama/Trump again.

Manchin has the excuse of being in a real red state. When was the last time a Republican won a state wide race in Arizona?

2 years ago. Governor Ducey's re-election.

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Damn how did he win by so much?

Because he is a republican version of Sinema. The 30% swath of independent voters here generally lean slightly right and he ran a very moderate campaign, which the lunatics like Kelly Ward and others don't seem to grasp.

The GOP is back with more bad faith bullshit. The complaint about the stimulus checks going to people in jail falls apart when you learn that the checks are following the same rules as the previous COVID checks, which these same GOPers voted for.

That doesn't make any sense. If you vote for one flawed policy then you shouldn't learn from your mistakes?

That's not what this is about.

I don't disagree with your sentiments but I'm assuming the $ is relatively very, very, very small. I'll assume this is some minor pork to get additional votes (played by both parties). So in the big scheme of things, not a big deal.

Yes, I'm sure the GOP has a principled objection.

Just like how all of them voted for the CARES act and none of them voted for this bill. They just found their principles.

Yeah baby, found some pork I really like. Not sure if it made it in the final bill though.

As someone thinking about doing semi-early retirement, healthcare insurance until Medicare has been a concern so have been looking into Obamacare stuff. I am not thinking that I would spend more than $85K a year in retirement but was concerned if capital gains, or dependents working (and myriad of other possible factors) and how that would impact calculation for subsidies.

With this proposal, it takes all that uncertainty away.

Good news for the economy (so far) with more jobs.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/05/econo...ort/index.html

That is nice about the ACA. We are dancing with that line right now. Removing the cap is super helpful, especially since I don't know how long my son will be in our insurance.

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Supposed to cost $34B over 2 years. That's significant enough where honestly, I feel the money is better spent somewhere else e.g. help subsidize vaccines for rest of world (but be sure we get credit & good press for it).

But if I'm a pawn in a bigger 3D chess move to beef up Obamacare & ensure it survives/expands, I'll happily take the pork for the larger good.

Generally speaking when everyone has stake in a program they'll fight for it more. Social Security is a 3rd rail of US politics because it isn't just for the poor, but it benefits everyone.

And having subsidies to limit your out of pocket expense to a certain percentage of income helps middle class families quite a bit.

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Amazing how one woman of color can make the US conservative movement into monarchists.

What crazier? Conservative embrace of Russia or conservative embrace of monarchy?

It's so weird.

3 days ago, the British Monarchy was not a red/blue thing in America. If anything, being pro-monarch was probably a slight liberal thing.

But someone accuses them of being racist, and the right wing MOBILIZES to identify with them. Like some Avengers Assemble kind of shit.

Conservative relatives I have on Facebook who probably couldn't pick any of the Royals out of a lineup were suddenly all about how Harry and Megan were spoiled brats who were bringing about the end of Western Civilization. And fuck that Oprah for being all rich and spoiled, too.

It was WEIRD.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Let's face it, in 2021 this is what politics now is. Not just in the US either, although we do seem to have gone off the deep end more than most.

Has the Biden dog bite scandal gained wall to wall coverage on Newsmax yet?

COVID Bill is at, like, 70% popularity. That's low-key amazing in this polarized time.

Will be interesting to see if the GOP continues to try to demonize it a'la Obamacare or if they decide to just change the subject.

It feels like the best play here may be to just not talk about it.

Especially when the country doesn't give a shit about fiscal responsibility.

Latest Pew poll was showing that 55% thought the Republicans were not making a good faith effort to work with the administration (42% said they are), while 57% said the Administration was making a good faith effort to work with Republicans (only 40% said they were not).

GOP has made a bad political calculation going all super anti-Covid bill.

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It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out in '22 if it continues. McConnell's strategy has been to prevent a dem from achieving what they ran on. For Obama it was change, so they tried to block all legislation. For Biden it was working with the GOP and that's obviously what they've been attacking. So far the public isn't buying it though.

The GOP will fund every piece of spending that could be unpopular and highlight it like it was a crime. The deal is popular now, but the long term bet by the GOP is they can rebrand it as a huge Democrat spending spree. After the stimulus checks are gone, don't underestimate how affective that might be.

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I agree with GrantDawg. They know that being for something like this can't help them with their base in the long run. If public opinion turns later it's a plus for them. If it doesn't they are screwed anyway. It's cynical, but it's not necessarily - though it may end up being - bad politics. I don't think we know yet how this era will be viewed a year, two years, five years after whatever passes for 'normal' arrives.

I mean, they did blame Obama (nonstop) for TARP and the bailout that Bush2 approved before he left.

It’s cynical, but it’s also why the GOP has opposed COVID mitigation measures over the last year. The “we’re all in this together” mentality would destroy their brand if enough people realized it worked.

I'm not sure that it is so simple.

I live in Ohio and Republican governor DeWine has supported a lot of mitigation measures.

Good point. Not all Republicans.

I’m hopeful that the good ones can somehow still have a say in the party.

But the rest of the party tried to impeach him.

A couple lawmakers is hardly "the rest of the party"

I mean, that's what the conservative movement has basically always BEEN. Not necessarily "give us a king" explicitly, but statist, in the sense of "do what we have to to ensure that our vision and our rule are what prevail."

The secessionist movement in the 19th century wasn't about freedom, no matter how the revisionists try to paint it. It was about the preservation of slavery as an institution. After the Civil War, after Reconstruction, the conservative voices in the South were explicit about pursuing the supremacy of the white race over the freed blacks, and policy pursuits in Southern states for the last 150 years have been about finding ways to do that.

They may not be about having a particular person as figurehead (Trump notwithstanding) but it isn't China or North Korea's form of government the American conservative movement hates. It's who's leading those governments.

Neither one is all that different from what you see in the American South when you come right down to it.

COVID-19 Relief Bill passes Congress-1 Dem voted no today, no Rep voted yes. President Biden set to sign on Friday, which is when I get my first vaccine shot

I grew up in Ohio and the number of rank and file GOPers supporting impeachment was/is pretty high. It was far more than two.

wHy WoNt ThE DeMs WoRk WiTh ThE RiGhT!?!?!?!

One could say almost equally, 'Why are the Dems just marching in lockstep?' with only one vote against?

If the GOP would have passed something similar last Fall they'd still be running things.

Yeah if Trump had shown any real competence with handling the pandemic, and gotten the Republicans behind him on it, he likely would have won re-election.

don't know where else to put this, but out running errands today a trunk passed me going the other way with a "Fuck Biden" flag on it.

1-People are so childish

2-Guess this is the Trump merchandise money train until he announces a 2024 run

Merrick Garland is your new Attorney General. Maybe a bit surprising is that Mitch McConnell voted to confirm. His way of apologizing for locking him out of the Supreme Court?

I'd change it to "shown, consistently, as if he cared, believe this was serious, was trying with actions and words".

There were times when he showed he "cared" and said it was "serious" and "tried" but they were overwhelmed by his inconsistency where he contradicted himself on those points.

(And if he had won, it would not have been pretty in this forum).

I think Merrick Garland was probably the most conservative person that could've been nominated by Biden. He's not exactly a liberal firebrand.

So the GOP votes against giving $1400 to Americans who need it and then go on to propose removing the Estate Tax which only applies to those with wealth in excess of $11m.

The party of the working class!

Which idiot proposed removing the Estate Tax?

I don't think he would have won anyway if he did that. It's unknowable of course, but it underestimates the amount of people who supported him because he took the approach he did IMO. Most of those who voted Biden because of the pandemic issue weren't going to vote Trump anyway.

I'm thinking he had a hardcore 38-42% and he exceeded that with 47% so let's say he exceeded expectations by +5%. I'm thinking he would have gotten more of those "hidden" voters with some more middle ground.

But you are right, won't ever know for sure.

Which was one reason Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court

You might have been one of the few still posting in the Trump thread. :)

Not me. I think most here (but not all) of us can move on from Trump. It helps that (surprisingly) Trump has not been in the news that much. Thanks to Twitter I guess.

It's not all Biden now but he owns 80+%, especially domestic and covid response.

There's been not much going on foreign policy wise yet other than some "talks" in Afghanistan and "words" against China. He's had it easy so far. Wonder when & where the first foreign crisis is going to come from. Odds are NK crazy kid will throw a tantrum or Iran will somehow escalate.

GOP push for estate tax reform is a handout to the rich - Los Angeles Times

‘We want to be oversupplied’: U.S. buying additional 100 million doses of J&J vaccine - MarketWatch

Absolutely the right move. +100M doses, let's swag $40 per dose = $4B.


Addition of AZN and NVAX, using same formula $4B x 3 = $12B. Cheap insurance to significantly reduce impact of another round of this crap (if it happens).

Now if it mutates to something that our vaccines can't handle, it'll be a bad call. But it does seem pharma's can "adjust" their vaccines to accommodate (some) new variants.


A good thing but not sure Biden would ever give up the surplus (maybe in 2023?). Better thing to do is to give/loan/subsidize/help negotiate countries so they can buy their own as soon as possible.

Like many, I've been worried about mutations, but I read something the other day that got me more hopeful on that score.

The virus has only a limited number of ways that it can mutate and still be effective as a virus.

The vast majority of mutations would make the virus less effective. So the number of mutations about which we have to worry is finite. And our scientists have a handle on what those are likely to be and are already working on those vis a vis vaccine adaptations.

I think we need to stockpile in case one needs boosters a year or two later.

I just assumed this was going to eventually be more like an annual flu vaccine than like a hepatitis shot or something.

Yeah. My guess is that it will just be part of the annual routine: Flu shot & COVID booster.

Looks like it made it in! Looks like semi-early retirement is more of a reality now ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...igned-n1260719

Sadly, the way forward for minor policy changes right now is as an add-on to HUGE policy changes, where your issue gets lost in the policy shuffle.

Another outcome of the filibuster. When you may only pass two bills of substance, you want to throw everything into them.

I think Biden's goal of offering the vaccine to everyone who wants it by May 1 is doable, especially when factoring in the anti-vaxxers, science deniers and serial procrastinators who will forego the opportunity.

I hope so. If I read the announcement correctly, I should be eligible in my state next week. Just looking around I am not seeing anyone that says they have open appointments. Opening up who can administer the shots probably helps, but it still really hard to get an appointment now.

I think that everyone will be eligible by May 1st. Even the most anti-Biden governors aren't going to pick a fight with him about wanting to give their citizens less vaccine access.

I think that it may still take a while after May 1st for everyone to get their shots. It is one thing to be eligible. It is another thing to make the appointment.

Still--late June seems like a pretty good target for everyone who wants it to have finished both shots (or 1 with J&J).

Yeah, he made a point to clarify that everyone would be eligible in terms of supply/opportunity subject to scheduling. Still a big win on that front.

I would wait until May 1st before calling it a win.

What if there's not enough vaccines for all the prioritized groups? Do the schedules then get thrown out the window?

If the drug companies meet deadlines there will be more than enough vaccine, it was always going to be the availability of sites/staffing and that falls to the states. You can't just have anyone giving the vaccinations.

My company is volunteering at sites here in Phoenix for logistics and since we are a health insurance company, offering qualified personnel to give vaccinations. In working with DHS here they are not concerned at all with the supply right now, it is getting enough boots on the ground to give them and scheduling is still hit and miss.

NY initially made a mistake in Cuomo having to control everything with the distribution. They basically ignored the public health people throughout NY and tried to create a system from scratch. Now they are letting the people with vaccine experience do much more and there's a noticeable improvement in locations and vaccine distribution.

This projection is a little more difficult because it relies more on the states. But Biden initially projected 100 shots in his first 100 days. We'll hit that today on day 51 of his administration. (And much fewer days than that if you use the QAnon inauguration date, which I'm seeing they've switched to March 20 now)

I'm sure his team feels confident about this projection. Setting out tangible goals and beating them is a good look.

There is zero excuse to not ha e the national guard and fema involved from the very start. If the former guy had planned accordingly we could have had a much smoother roll out and seem less transition. No reason we couldn’t have has mass triage centers set up in every metro area that could have inoculated large numbers from the start.

I like that MAGAts are spamming "dementia joe" today. They had a President for 4 years who couldn't slobber through 10 minute speeches, but Biden gives a quality speech and someone he's a dementia patient.

Have they not met people with dementia? It's not fun.

I made the mistake of listening to ten minutes of Fox News this morning. They alternated between Joe reading a prepared speech and not taking questions and the fact that 1 million shots in 100 days isn't really a big deal. Now we all full well know if he didn't meet that goal they would be killing him also. Its ridiculous.

Are they done with his wild rabid dog?

Wow, Stimulus is already pending in our account. That was insanely quick.

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Friend on Facebook says his hit. I wish mine had. I am itching to buy a new bed.

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Biden is so good at the relationships aspect of politics. Calling out and praising Bernie for his help with the ARP is simple, but so many politicians overlook things like that.

My bank is saying deposits will start on the 17th.

Bed bugs, eh?

;)

No, lol. I am actually a professional at getting rid of those.

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Hmmmm, pretty good news I guess. Of the $1.9T, we already have the $1T borrowed and ready to go, so only .9T net new.

How Trump’s team amassed a $1 trillion war chest for Biden to deploy - POLITICO

The bar for good news is pretty low these days.

I saw a minute of Hannity and he was railing that it had been 50 whole days since Biden had given a news conference and I laughed and laughed. It didn't matter much the past 4 years to him. Doofus talked all the time, but he didn't take hard questions, that's for sure.

I know Biden will lose some support but he is right in wanting to wait for the investigation of Cuomo.

The dilemma is that Biden himself have been accused of being too touchy-feely. Nothing to the level of Cuomo (or Trump for that matter) but enough times by enough different women.

Democrats are hypocrites. When it's one of their own they believe in investigations.

When it's a accused conservative then the victim must get the benefit of the doubt.

Biden himself wouldn't survive the rules that he's proposing for college students.

FIFY

don't deflect

Biden wants college male students to be presumed guilty no matter what yet Cuomo gets an investigation.

I actually didn’t know what you were referring to with students so I did not quote that section.

Most of the NY elected Dems have called for his resignation.

Right but they don't count as Democrats (including Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, Congresspeople Nadler and Ocasio-Cortez, etc) because it messes up the Fox News narrative...

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I think all but 4 of the NY Dem congressional delegation has called for him to resign. De Blasio is practically giddy demanding Cuomo resign. I don't know the number for state-level Dems, but there have been plenty that have called for his resignation already and there's been an impeachment inquiry opened by Dems.

Yeah there's a difference here, and there have been other examples in recent years as well. Republicans gloss over any failings of their own more often, or in some cases trumpet them as assets. Democrats are definitely slower to judgement when it's one of theirs, but many of them get there.


This is true also, and he's not been decisive enough for my liking on this issue. Having said that, it can't be ignored the number of Democrats calling for Cuomo to go and for the voices of the accusers to be heard. You just don't see that on the other side.

No he doesn't. He wants the standard the same as it is in a civil trial, which is preponderance of the evidence. The students would still have beyond a reasonable doubt as the standard if it went to a criminal trial.

Just remember, Trump is a rapist who did get away with it but Biden is soft. Got it.

More grist for the Republican mill I suppose:

Biden planning first major tax hike in almost 30 years: report

Biden planning first major tax hike in almost 30 years: report | TheHill

Alternate headline:

Biden to Keep Promise of Repealing Unpopular Trump Tax Cuts

How could it be the first major tax hike in 30 years when Obama raised taxes every day he was in office?

Also, democrats were pretty quick to throw Franken under the bus without an investigation (which probably would have cleared him). He resigned before they could even do one.

Republicans are hypocrites.

Ok, your turn. We're even.

Let's see here's another.

"Evangelical" Conservative Christians are hypocrites.

There I feel better now. How about you?

Stimulus check 2021: Millions face tax refund delay as relief arrives

Just in case you are like me and was wondering why you have not received your tax refund as of yet.

Good info. I wasn't wondering, knew things like that we're going to happen. Weird for me as it's the first substantial refund I've had coming in many years, but fortunately I'm in an position where it's no big deal for me to wait for it.

It had me questioning if I fat fingered my bank account info.:lol: