On the real parts of populism—the parts where legislators vote on bills that change the tax code or give working parents a benefit to help pay for the cost of raising kids—Republicans are in large part still stuck in the Tea Party / Chamber of Commerce days. If anything, Republicans are sitting in the sour spot of populist economics. You get Marco Rubio tweeting that he wants to use the government to punish woke corporations if they don’t support his conception of the “common good”—but then he’s going to oppose Biden’s attempt to raise the corporate tax rate in order to fund a bigger social support network for workers. If Democrats can’t make a guy like Rubio pay for those conflicting positions, then they’re going to lose at least the House. And they’ll deserve to. Because Republicans are going to be in the position of being anti-corporate when it comes to popular companies endorsing popular issues and pro-corporate when it comes to companies keeping the former guy’s tax breaks. How do Democrats take advantage? (1) It starts with Carville’s suggestion about branding the Biden agenda. Yes there were the $1,400 checks. But what else was in the COVID package? What are the three items in either the rescue package or the infrastructure bill that workers can grasp and know are improving their lives? Can non-political obsessives answer that question right now? I don’t think so. Democrats need to change that ASAP. Biden will have a first crack at that in tonight’s big speech. (2) Dare the Republicans to live up to their rhetoric. Can’t get a $15 minimum wage through Manchin and Sinema? Then cut a deal that gets them on board for a smaller number. Call Cotton’s bluff on his $10 minimum wage proposal by offering a $12 or $11 compromise and watch him buckle. Do the same with Ernst, Lee, and Rubio on Paid Family Leave. (3) Find the most tangible, popular items with working-class voters. Not bullshit pablum about economic security—we’re talking about actual benefits. Get them into legislation, get them voted on—and then relentlessly crush any Republicans who opposes them. In the case of the popular stuff that was already in the American Rescue Plan, every single R is already on the hook. (4) Figure out how to tell this story inside the R information bubble. Yes, that means ads—but if you wanna get really crazy, go on Fox and talk about it. If the host badgers you about “fiscal responsibility” and “pay fors” then you’re doing the wedge thing right. More at link. https://thebulwark.com/memo-to-dems-call-the-gops-populist-bluff/
If the Dems were smart they'd agree on a lot of the stuff that's in a combined deal but then do them as separate votes and force Republicans to vote one each item instead of giving them the out of "well i voted against it because of X that was in the bill too!"
I agree politically that would make the most sense but the reason why these big bills are tied together is so that items that aren't as popular lumped in with the popular stuff so they have a better chance of passing. Democrats probably have the feeling that their window for getting a lot passed is very narrow so want to try to get as much passed now as possible.
I've seen a few people bring this up. Seth Meyers did a pretty good piece calling out Republicans fake populism.
The closest thing the Republicans have to a brand is hypocrisy. Being two faced on issues or acting tough but then revealing themselves to be cuckolds when their masters slander their wife like Ted Cruz that is the GOP. They don’t actually legislate or do anything for people. Calling them out on it won’t deter their supporters. These are uneducated trailer trash racist Q believers. My parents love to trash Biden but they were happy to call me about the cash car they purchased with the last stimulus. I love them but they are deeply racist and barely have a high school diploma between them. There are millions like them all over this country. The only way the people like my parents change their vote is if the GOP begins to suggest reparations.
(1) It starts with Carville’s suggestion about branding the Biden agenda. Yes there were the $1,400 checks. But what else was in the COVID package? What are the three items in either the rescue package or the infrastructure bill that workers can grasp and know are improving their lives? Can non-political obsessives answer that question right now? I don’t think so. Democrats need to change that ASAP. Biden will have a first crack at that in tonight’s big speech. That ship sailed. The bill passed. Is law. On to the next. The fact that the Authoritarian/white supremacist Party is on Prevent D over childcare seems like a good wedge to hammer.
That is the last thing the Dems want to do. They don't want to only pass the popular things that Republicans will vote for and then have the rest of their agenda go down in flames, they want to package everything together and then when Republicans vote against it say that Republicans are voting against COVID relief or veterans benefits or protection of puppies or whatever instead of what they are really opposed to. Republicans do the same thing. That is why I have previously suggested a constitutional amendment which would require that any bill only do one thing, no package deals. Each bill should fit on one 8.5x11 inch page, 12 point double spaced in some common font (Times New Roman, Helvetica, or my go to Calibri). You put forward your one page bill, everyone has plenty of time to read it, you debate it, and you vote on it (absent a filibuster in the Senate). No more thousand page bills that none of the people voting on it have actually read.
I can agree that Congress should pass more bills based on single issues than giant omnibus bills but putting each bill onto a letter sized page just sounds like a stunt that will lead to more problems. As a lawyer you're no doubt aware of how much court time is taken up over debating the text of laws and making them fit on a single page will make them much vaguer leading to probably much more court time spent on the meaning. Also following another debate we're having you seem fine with laws clarifying things so the other option would be passing many many more clarifying laws. Your single letter page law ends up being thousands of pages of over single letter pages clarifying the meaning of the terms in the original law.
You could pretty much replace the word Republican in your paragraph with Democrat because the same thing happens on both sides. As far as passing multiple bills that won’t be possible with reconciliation it’s all or nothing and with Congress sitting on his ass for the past few years doing little to nothing for the people I don’t mind it.
Absolutely, both sides package garbage the other side doesn't want with stuff they have bipartisan agreement on to try to force it through. Then they slap a ridiculous name on it that has nothing to do with the bill (or at least with the vast majority of the bill) to make voting against it sound bad, like the USA PATRIOT Act. That happens more because of imprecise language than bills being too short. Some bills will undoubtedly be just the agreed definition of a word for the purpose of legislation, and I have no problem with that. Not only can they do that, they do it all the time, but just include it in a larger bill package. For example: "The term “firearm” means (A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon; (C) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or (D) any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm." The point of the page limitation (and it doesn't have to be one page, it could be two or five or some other small number) is to prevent a thousand page bill that does three hundred different things but they claim does one thing like set forth a plan for American infrastructure spending. It is meant prevent congress from weaseling their way around the requirement. Currently, congress justifies which enumerated power bills are passed under, but they almost always just say interstate commerce clause plus necessary and proper clause, even when the bill has nothing to do with interstate commerce, because they can always do a mental gymnastics routine to say something affects interstate commerce. They will undoubtedly do the same thing with regard to a one issue limit.
Wouldn't matter if Democrats proposed bills separately or as part of large omibus bills. republicans will vote no, regardless.
I'm not so sure about that. Considering all but one Senate Republican did vote for the anti-Asian hate crime bill. I think that specific bills focused on things like transportation infrastructure could get a lot of Republican support. The situation we're in now is that there are issues like universal access to Pre-K that might not even get all the Democrats support if it was a single bill. The Democratic leadership is that all the Democrats and maybe a few Republicans will support a massive bill that has transportation infrastructure even if it has things that have less support. Republicans are arguing that there isn't enough that the like in it to accept it. If it was just a bill on something they liked I don't think that would be an issue.
