Written by: Nathaniel Mannor
Though it seems like the political parties have become too partisan, there’s still much infighting on both sides. From the 19 GOP senators who helped pass the $550 billion infrastructure plan to two Democratic senators standing firmly with the filibuster, there’s hope that the era of bipartisanship is not over. Still, the Democrats use everything in their arsenal to pass giant spending packages and now resort to their final option: the Houseplant in the Oval Office (aka Joe Biden).
With the Senate split 50-50, Biden is now up to sway his party into line. Unfortunately, that means coaxing two critical Democratic senators into breaking the filibuster to ram through a social spending package that Republicans shook their heads at.
But that won’t come easy for Old Joe. One of these senators, Joe Manchin (D-WV), said that he worries that West Virginians won’t like the safety net, climate change nonsense, and tax reforms included in the bill. So if Manchin votes in favor of the bill, it could cost him his senate seat and damage the Democrats further.
Some government officials hope Biden can unite his party around the spending bill while also pressuring McConnell to provide ten Republican votes to satisfy the filibuster rule. But therein lies the problem for Biden: he was never the head of his party.
Joe Biden was elected for two reasons: he was seen as a moderate alternative and because he’s braindead (only the latter was confirmed). Bernie Sanders and AOC are the party’s de facto leaders, and Biden has run straight for them, hoping to wield political influence still. Sadly, in doing so, he’s lost the reins of his party and therefore abandoned not only the Republicans he claimed to care for but also the moderates who are vital to his waning political life. And when he loses Congress in a year, the Biden era is officially over.
Photo from: Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
