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. :)