If Republicans and Democrats haven’t changed much on the role of government, independents are the weather vanes on this question. In 2019, a bare majority of independents said government was trying to do too much. A year later, in the middle of the pandemic, 56 percent said government should be doing more. Today, those who back a more robust government are down to 38 percent while 57 percent say government is trying to do too much.So that is a drop with Independents of 18% regarding those who believe that the Government should be doing more. Which in many ways is a determination that they simply do not believe that the Government is capable of solving the problems that need solving. This is also an indictment of the confidence people have in Biden and the other Democratic leaders who seem more akin to the three stooges than any one who can solve anything.
This is the double edge sword for Democrats. They want you to believe that they will solve all your problems. But then when you vote them in, they fuck it up even worse and raise your taxes while doing so. They generally get voted out of power long enough for people to forget that the futile nature of the Government solving our big problems, and then convince them that they can do what the failed to do the last time they were in power.
57 comments:
They don't raise TAXES.
They don't raise YOUR taxes.
They don't RAISE taxes.
They don't raise YOUR taxes.
They raise taxes ON THE RICH.
They raise taxes ON THE RICH.
They raise taxes ON THE RICH.
They raise taxes ON THE RICH.
ON THE RICH. ON THE RICH. ON THE RICH. ON THE RICH. ON THE RICH. ON THE RICH.
If you bemoan the shutdown of so many federal agencies and regularly ask yourself why our two parties seem to be at sword’s point on just about everything, you will not find an adequate explanation for our troubles in vague claims that “both sides” have become “extreme.”
Our core problem is a dogmatic anti-government attitude, reflected in Reagan’s quip, that arose in the 1970s and ’80s. This makes it impossible for us to have a constructive debate about what government is for, what tasks it should take on, and what good it actually does.
In truth, the whole anti-government thing is fundamentally fraudulent. So is the conservative claim to believe passionately in states’ rights and local authority.
In practice, conservatives regularly vote for lots of government — so long as it serves the interests they represent. Start with farm subsidies, massive defense spending, regulations that disempower unions, and measures that sharply tilt the tax code in favor of corporate interests and the wealthy.
As for the power of states and localities, conservatives regularly propose federal action to override state governments that issue safety and environmental regulations that business regards as too robust. Somehow, they think we need national “consistency” on these matters but not on, say, voting rights. And right-wing state legislatures regularly pre-empt laws passed by more liberal local governments.
Hypocrisy is troubling enough, but the anti-government ideology is the source of even more problematic habits. Recall another famous Reagan line: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
It worked 40 years ago
Only by examining the anti-government view in its unabashed form can we understand why our two parties can’t be seen as equivalent and why rational negotiations are so difficult. Trump’s utter indifference to the basics of his job makes matters even worse, but the conservative neuroses toward government long predates his rise.
Some on the right are willing to call a halt to an argument that is serving us so badly. The work of both Jerry Taylor and Samuel Hammond at the libertarian-leaning Niskanen Center has aroused great interest because it faces up to what has long been true: Many “big government” countries (in Scandinavia, for example) are also among the freest nations on earth. It is time, Hammond argues, to blow up the “ideological axis” that runs from “‘small government’ libertarian'” to “‘big government’ progressive.”
So it is. Sweeping aside misleading ideas won’t guarantee us better politics. But abandoning them is a precondition to escaping the trap we’re in — and ending the madness of shutdowns.
AND SHOULD THE RICH PAY MORE IN TAXES?
WELL OF COURSE THEY SHOULD. EVEN TRUMP SAID THEY SHOULD, AND PROMISED HE WOULD MAKE THEM DO IT.
HE LIED.
AND HERE'S JUST ONE MORE REASON
WHY THEY SHOULD:
Top 1% Holds More Wealth Than Entire Middle Class
The U.S. middle class — defined as the middle 60% of households — now holds a smaller share of wealth than top 1%, according to Schwab.
Jonathan Last:
“This is bad.
But it’s important to state why it’s bad.
I would argue that it’s bad morally,
in that increasing the leverage of capital relative to labor
is unfair.
But let’s leave morality aside.
“It’s bad practically.
Because the stress this disequilibrium
puts on a society is significant.
It contributes to social conflict,
which then translates into political conflict.”
YEP, AND THAT'S BAD. THE RICH USE THAT TO HIDE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE ROBBING THIS NATION BLIND. ROBBING THE MIDDLE CLASS BLIND. ROBBING BLIND EVERYONE BUG THE ROBBING RICH WHO ARE JUST GETTING RICHER.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/21/dionne-reagans-9-most-terrifying-words-still-a-destructive-force-in-us-politics/
ROBBING BLIND EVERYONE BUT THE ROBBING MIDDLE CLASS WHO JUST KEEP GETTING RICHER.
CH SHOUTS,
PEOPLE ARE LOSING CONFIDENCE
IN GOVERNMENT!
BUT...
HE'S GONNA START SELLING IT!
HE'S GONNA START PROMOTING IT!!
HE'S GONNA START BALLYHOOING IT!!!
HE'S GONNA START REALLY GETTING IT DONE!!!!
BIDEN TO HOLD TELEVISED TOWN HALL.
“President Joe Biden
will participate
in a CNN town hall
on Thursday in Baltimore,
where he’ll take questions
as his administration continues
to sell his ambitious legislative agenda
to members of Congress and the nation,”
CNN reports.
Florida is fucking crazy
Centner Academy in Miami, Florida said any student who gets vaccinated must quarantine for 30 days.The school is promoting a dangerous, debunked rumor that vaccinated students can infect others.An infectious-disease expert who spoke with WSVN characterized the false claim as "science fiction."
A private school in Miami is requiring students who get vaccinated to quarantine at home for 30 days after each dose.
Dems need some Harris magic:
Democrats in Virginia are hopeful that the vice president will be able to engage key Democratic voters ahead of the November 2 election. McAuliffe is currently locked in a tight race with Republican gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin.
This is about the first time since the election has the Vice President Harris campaign for someone
Her failures will be on-stage.
As the weekend’s sporting events pass into the record books, it is clear that the “F*ck Joe Biden” and “Let’s Go Brandon” chants have become an entirely common part of American sports in 2021.
The Twitter account Old Row has done yeoman’s work chronicling the outbreaks of both the “F*ck Joe Biden” and “Let’s Go Brandon” chants as they ring out at sports events from coast to coast. The chant sprang up at the Mississippi State/Alabama game Saturday and the Braves/Dodgers game on Sunday."
Because of Trump the the bulk of the Republican Party was minimally committed to small-D democracy."
"We believed there was a faction in the Republican Party, particularly in the Senate, that would be able and willing to draw a line that they wouldn't let Trump cross," he said. "And we were wrong about that. The speed and the extent to which the Republican Party has been Trumpified is way beyond anything that we expected."
We can only conclude that the country's democratic institutions were not as strong as many people believed them to be, and that the American people's faith in democracy was exaggerated. Furthermore, the Republican Party's move towards fascism was far deeper and more sincere than the country's political elites and mainstream media wanted to admit. Many other societal problems also helped bring America to this crisis.
This sort of slippage is often seen in a society during an interregnum, the sort of in-between historical period famously described by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci: "The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters."
In a featured essay for the Society of Cultural Anthropology's online journal, Andrea Muehlebach offers this context:
Interregnum was the term used in ancient Rome to refer to the moment of legal and political in-betweenness that followed the death of the sovereign and preceded the enthronement of his successor. The declaration of interregnum was accompanied by the proclamation of justitium, for it was not only sovereignty but also legality that was suspended. Gramsci brilliantly played with these terms, extending them as he grappled with the generalized crisis of authority in his own time. Old hegemonies were crumbling. The ruling order had lost its capacity to lead through consent. The masses had drifted away from traditional ideologies and toward a structure of feeling that awaited full articulation. The horizon was open.
The rest, as we know, is history.
Such moments of crisis pose a fundamental challenge to the way individuals think about their role in society.
When a society's landmarks are erased and its lodestars or guiding lights are plucked from the sky, a collective confusion and disorientation — even madness — can take hold.
At a time when we need more production Bidenomics reduces factory utilization by 1 %.
Let's go Brandon!!!!!
We are committed to the USA as a Free Republic.
Fucking cowardly Alky has lived his entire life poor, stupid and afraid.
The Tennessee Titans won one of the greatest Monday night football games in history. Seven lead changes!��������������
I thought Buffalo would kick ass
WASHINGTON — The death of storied general and statesman Colin Powell from complications related to COVID-19 should not lead to any concerns about the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines, according to experts and government officials.
The fact remains that unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die than those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Please don’t let the death of an American icon become fodder for anti-vax forces that are putting untold millions in danger,” wrote Department of Health and Human Services adviser Ian Sams on Twitter. “Vaccines work. They prevent bad outcomes. They (like all vaccines) are not 100%, especially among older people with underlying/complicating health issues.”
WASHINGTON — The death of storied general and statesman Colin Powell from complications related to COVID-19 should not lead to any concerns about the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines, according to experts and government officials.
The fact remains that unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die than those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Please don’t let the death of an American icon become fodder for anti-vax forces that are putting untold millions in danger,” wrote Department of Health and Human Services adviser Ian Sams on Twitter. “Vaccines work. They prevent bad outcomes. They (like all vaccines) are not 100%, especially among older people with underlying/complicating health issues.”
When a society's landmarks are erased and its lodestars or guiding lights are plucked from the sky, a collective confusion and disorientation — even madness — can take hold.
As the left continues to tear down the statues of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, destroying the history of and smearing these great men in the name of 'social justice.'.
You have the self-awareness of a potted fucking plant, alky.
And on the topic of 'having a constructive debate about what government is for, what tasks it should take on, and what good it actually does,' we could have this debate if the left would allow itself to hear an opposing viewpoint. But like with every topic the left demands we acquiesce to, diversity of opinion is NOT allowed, and what IS allowed is a lecture by the left, with their opponents sitting in silence, lest they be called racist, fascist, or worse, for even HAVING an alternative point of view on the topic.
Cowards know only how to bully and silence their political opponents, most often when they know deep down inside that their own viewpoints are largely bullshit.
Be it through censorship, de-platforming, or cancel culture, the left doesn't possess the intellect or the courage of their convictions to even attempt a civil debate let alone win it, so their opponents must be destroyed.
You cheered when Alex Jones was publicly shamed and silenced. That was fascism straight up. You cheered when large swaths of the right were removed from Twitter and Facebook. More fascism. What that tells us is that you lack integrity and confidence in your own position. It also tells us that you fear your opponents to the point of demanding their silence because you have no counter-argument worth a bucket of warm piss.
Amazing to me that the GOP lead by trump is spreading disinformation to make their policy look good....Another funny thing that those with the biggest complaint about masking are the GOP demanding freedom to choose and state masks don't work....Well another fun fact is that schools who have mask mandates are showing much lower infection rates than schools with no policies.....I wonder if any will notice this little piece of news.??????
via Getty Images)
Where COVID Does Not Appear To Be Spreading
Schools with mask mandates
Throughout the pandemic, research has shown that schools were not major sources of COVID-19 transmission — but there were concerns that might change as schools across the U.S. reopened this fall amid the delta surge.
Early evidence suggests that schools with mask mandates appear to be faring well, while schools without them have seen more cases. “Nationwide, counties without masking requirements saw the number of pediatric COVID-19 cases increase nearly twice as quickly during this same period,” according to a recent CDC study.
"From the diversity of our people, let us draw strength and not seek weakness. Believe in America with all your heart and soul, with all of your mind. Remember, that it remains the "last, best hope of Earth." You are its inheritors and its future is today placed in your hands."
The critics of CRT have forbidden the American dream speech by Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. For school classes.
That man was the greatest American of the 20th century. He led a non violent war against racism and discrimination.
But because he's not the right skin color, you don't want our children to know about that.
rrb is an Insurrectionist's= conservatives. This moron like most of trump's supporters is as dumb as a box of rocks.
Dumb, alky?
Like you?
Let's debate the role of government. Let's go. I've got my positions all lined up. Would love to have the debate. Clowns like you are not capable because you lack the intellect, and your positions are SO weak as to be indefensible. Hence your incessant need to silence, censor, de-platform and cancel.
You DEMAND Google, Facebook, and Twitter silence us, and you rejoice when it occurs.
That's the mark of a coward.
It's no wonder you feel the need to steal the valor of your ancestors who served.
That man was the greatest American of the 20th century.
Why? Because a violent democrat made him a martyr?
You guys dismiss what King stood for every fucking day when you demand hateful poison like CRT and the 1619 Project be taught to innocent kids.
Your only play in our society is to foment hate and division through incendiary rhetoric, rather than a focus on the content of character OVER skin color. You seek to divide, foster violence, and fracture a nation. You guys are the antithesis of EVERYTHING King preached and stood for. And to top it all off you deploy your usual psychological projection to blame US for your actions and failures.
Every time King's name rolls off the lips of a leftist it's a massive stain on his legacy.
They don't raise YOUR taxes.
Repeating a lie in CAPS is still.
Sorry asshole rat...James Earl Ray was not affiliated with any party and as a criminal was not entitled to vote...Your allegation he was a demarcate is nothing more than you revising history as you see fit......BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
BTW James Earl Ray was an avowed white supremacists which fits right into the current GOP fold......BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
. stock indexes gained on Tuesday as major companies continued to report strong third-quarter earnings, easing concerns that persistent Covid cases and rising costs would derail corporate America’s profit recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed about 90 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 added 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%.
The Dow sits less than 1% from its all-time high.
Dow member Travelers saw its shares gain more than 2% after the insurance company’s quarterly earnings report topped expectations.
King would oppose CRT and the 1619 as antithetical to he dream of a color-blind society.
To king there was only one tribe. The American tribe.
Ibram X. Kendi see King's acceptance within the white community as a threat to his scam CRT enterprise. So much so he had to write article in the Atlantic.
The truth is both white and black communities have sign on to King's dream. And that's what Kendi is afraid of.
Very succinct 2 minute argument on the vaccine mandate from a Senate hearing.
VIDEO:
https://gab.com/QAnon211/posts/107127008019874847
Since the government has exempted Big Pharma from any liability for adverse vaccine reactions companies mandating them need to accept that liability.
Although I think these mandates will eventually be found unconstitutional by the time it goes through the court system.
Former President Adolf Trump released a statement on the death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell:
Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!
BTW James Earl Ray was an avowed white supremacists which fits right into the current GOP fold.
Ray was a Democrat.
King on the other hand was a Republican and he would be far more welcome into the ranks of the GOP today than back in 1963.
Roger Amick said...
. stock indexes gained on Tuesday as major companies continued to report strong third-quarter earnings
CNBC
@CNBC
https://mobile.twitter.com/CNBC/status/1450215108529967109
Stock market wealth has become more concentrated during the pandemic, with the top 1% now owning 54% of all stocks. @robtfrank reports. https://cnb.cx/3aKRG25
*** Billionaires cheer !!! ***
and roger
ROFLMFAO !!!
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Former President [Donald] Trump released a statement on the death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell:
The one thing you can say about Trump is the he's brutally honest despite the circumstances.
Commonsense said...
Ray was a Democrat.
King on the other hand was a Republican and he would be far more welcome into the ranks of the GOP today than back in 1963.
The only thing VERY lo iq Denny ever gets right is his BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
and we all know what is happening then
I wondered what the hell was the coach was thinking!
The Tennessee Titans didn't play a lot of defense on Monday night. But they did stop Josh Allen from getting a half a yard when he needed it most.
The Buffalo Bills gambled on fourth down and less than a yard in the final seconds. Instead of taking a field goal to tie it, the Bills went for the first down inside the 5-yard line. And when Allen took the snap for the quarterback sneak, he didn't seem to get great footing and the Titans defense stopped him cold.
The Titans, carried by Derrick Henry's three-touchdown night, escaped with a thrilling 34-31 win.
Tennessee has a defensive lineman who is the biggest strongest player I ever saw.
Donald gave me a huge laugh with the boldfaced comment below:
Trump on the Passing of Colin Powell
Former President Trump released a statement on the death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell:
"Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!"
________
Dream on, Donald! You will be the laughingstock of American politics down through many, many generations.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Received Lynching Threat
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn received multiple threats, including one of lynching, after he penned an opinion piece critical of former President Donald Trump, the Des Moines Register reports.
Wilburn, a state representative, is the first Black chair of the Iowa Democratic Party.
________
So a black who dares criticize Trump runs the risk of being lynched?
Is that something that should not be mentioned in our schools?
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn received multiple threats, including one of lynching, after he penned an opinion piece critical of former President Donald Trump, the Des Moines Register reports.
Suuuuuuuuuuuure he did.
Oldest leftist play in the book. Act like an asshole publicly, then cry death threat.
Latest pack of fucktards to deploy this weak tactic - school board members.
WHAA!
LOL.
Cowardly Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told the Washington Post that he hid in a storage closet with other Republican senators during the January 6 insurrection.
Tuberville recalled the theme of the discussion: “Do we want to continue this if there’s not going to be a result we are looking for anyway?”
Some senators did change their minds after the closet meeting, but Tuberville went on to object to certifying the electoral college votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Because he didn't want to be called a RINO by Adolf Trump.
I want to surprise you about my husband Roger Amick.
He is the love of my life.
Check out my photo.
I am fine with the bills going for it. There's the old adage, play for a tie at home and a win in on the road. Especially with arguably the best offense in football. But it looked like his foot slipped. And I thought he made it the play before on his dive for it.
The bills are definitely fun to watch. And when on a full run to his right, Allen can still hit a pinpoint target 40 yards downfield.
Biden’s approach has been an economic disaster.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the price of crude oil has jumped by 64% to a seven-year high. The cost of natural gas has doubled in just six months. Heating oil is more expensive by 68%, just in time for winter. And gasoline is over $3 per gallon on the national average, up by almost a dollar over the past year.
Energy costs are one driver of inflation, which is already a concern and could get worse.
The situation he created has led Biden into embarrassing situations where he has been forced to plead for rescue.
Over the summer, his administration begged OPEC to increase oil production to combat rising gasoline prices. It refused.
This month, Reuters reported that the Biden White House has approached domestic oil and gas producers, asking for help. These are the very companies that Biden has been demonizing and now he wants them to save him from himself.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/10/18/biden-on-energy-crisis-begging-others-to-save-him-from-himself/
WASHINGTON – Colin Powell established a legacy in national defense and foreign policy, but politically he was one of a dying breed: a moderate Republican.
The rise of Donald Trump completed a decadeslong estrangement for Powell from the Republican Party, a distancing that began not long after the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff turned down a bid to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 1996.
Although he served as secretary of state for President George W. Bush, Powell – like other GOP moderates – began to drift away from the base's more aggressive tenor.
Over the years Powell became increasingly critical of the party's plans to cut government programs, mount an aggressive foreign policy, promote divisive social issues like opposition to abortion, and, most of all, follow Trump.
"Colin Powell embodied expertise, practicality, and moderation," said political scientist Jack Pitney, a former Republican. "His memory represents a Republican Party that has ceased to exist at the national level."
------
As the Republicans became the Dixiecrats in the late 70s he moved to become a moderate Democrat, he supported Obama and Hillary Clinton. Because he saw the Republicans were no longer conservatives.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the price of crude oil has jumped by 64% to a seven-year high. The cost of natural gas has doubled in just six months. Heating oil is more expensive by 68%, just in time for winter. And gasoline is over $3
BTW genius;;;;;;Biden and US production has no control over the price of crude....the global market does!!!! BTW....The WSJ also finds you to be a fucking idiot with no street creds.......BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
BTW James Earl Ray was an avowed white supremacists which fits right into the current GOP fold.
Ray was a Democrat.
BWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! SURE CRAMPS.....RAT LIES, THE FLORIDUH ASSHOLE SWEARS TO IT!!!!!!! I know better, but a legit link would solve the question.....I doubt you will provide one......Neither of you assholes averring about the party affiliation of a killer is most amusing and typical of your non intellectual stand of BULLSHIT!!!!
WASHINGTON – Colin Powell established a legacy in national defense and foreign policy, but politically he was one of a dying breed: a moderate Republican.
Colon Powell supported Barack Obama for president twice. That's not a Republican, moderate or otherwise.
doubt you will provide one..
Just James Earl Ray's voter registration.
YOU DUMB FUCK.....HE WAS NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE!!!!!!!!!! JUST ANOTHER PILE OF YOUR BULLSHIT!!!!!!!! SURE WOULD BE NICE FOR YOU TO LINK THAT!!!!!
Saint Colon of the Bowel. A "moderate republican" who supported an avowed Marxist for president, not once but twice.
Power a man of integrity, loyal to the country and worked tirelessly to keep rats safe to speak their minds freely....Too bad rats have only a singular need to jam white supremacy too keep their declining numbers in power.......very sad that being a patriot does not mean just supporting a party.....but a country!!!!
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn received multiple threats, including one of lynching, after he penned an opinion piece critical of former President Donald Trump, the Des Moines Register reports.
Well such things are illegal and since he claims that they are voicemails and emails, those sorts of things can be easily tracked. I would expect that the perpetrators will be found in short order and charge with crimes shortly after being found.
Unless of course, these people calling for lynching and using the "n" word are highly intelligent people able to evade any counter-cyber-measures that our law enforcement has at its disposal.
But it would have be a pretty sophisticated person to avoid getting caught sending an email or issuing any sort of threat over the phone in 2021. Pretty sophisticated indeed. Much more sophisticated than I would expect from a "n" word using farmer from Iowa.
Blogger anonymous said...
YOU DUMB FUCK.....HE WAS NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE!!!!!!!!!
Before he killed King he was a citizen in good standing and therefore eligible to vote.
Shit for brains.
Unless of course, these people calling for lynching and using the "n" word are highly intelligent people able to evade any counter-cyber-measures that our law enforcement has at its disposal.
Sounds like another fake noose door pull or 'poop swastika' to me. Let's dispatch several dozen worthless FBI agents to piss away countless man hours on yet ANOTHER FUCKING HOAX.
Before he killed King he was a citizen in good standing
HE WAS convicted for armed robbery in Missouri and therefor a felon, cramps.....good standing maybe for trump and rat, but not eligible to vote!!!!! Sorry sport, your meaningless drivel again is your downfall!!!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...so Sleepy Joe's strategy seems to be working.
President Biden told Democrats during a private meeting Tuesday that he believed they could secure a deal on a new tax-and-spending proposal between $1.75 trillion and $1.9 trillion, far less than some in the party initially sought, even as some lawmakers later maintained it still would allow them to accomplish broad swaths of their vast economic agenda.
The early outline — shared at least with liberal lawmakers in the House — appeared to offer one potential avenue for the White House to broker a truce among Democrats’ warring left-leaning and moderate factions. Four people familiar with Biden’s comments confirmed the early details, requesting anonymity to describe the negotiations.
The potential new price range marks a significant reduction from the $3.5 trillion that some Democrats initially pursued under a budget agreement chiefly brokered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) earlier this year. But it is closer to the number that centrists, especially Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), had outlined in recent months as they sought steep cuts to Democrats’ spending plans. Manchin and Sanders met Tuesday for the second time in two days after the two sparred with each other over the weekend.
By the White House’s calculations, a package up to $1.9 trillion would allow them to accomplish some of their most significant priorities. That includes at least some expansion of Medicare to offer new benefits to seniors, the introduction of universal prekindergarten, and billions of dollars to address climate change, the sources said, cautioning that many of the details must still be worked out.
But slimming down the package also is sure to force Democrats to make some sacrifices. The path put forward by the White House could extend new, expanded child tax credit payments recently adopted by Congress, but perhaps for only one additional year, three of the sources said. It would offer new money to make housing more affordable, yet far less than Democrats once envisioned. And it would provide paid leave, except only four weeks of benefits, rather than the 12 weeks some had once proposed, according to one of the people in the room.
The White House on Tuesday evening did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier in the day, however, White House press secretary Jen Psaki described the meeting with liberals — and a second, separate session with moderate Democrats — as “constructive” toward potentially reaching a deal after months of delays.
Go Dodgers.
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