Reference: Biden Says He Won’t Sign Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Without Reconciliation (theepochtimes.com); Biden extols bipartisan infrastructure deal as a good start – The Boston Globe; Infrastructure breakthrough marks victory for political center (msn.com)
The unfortunate hilarity continues in Washington, D.C. Today’s papers are full of screaming about how wonderful it is that President Biden was able to get alleged Senate bipartisan compromise on an “infrastructure” bill. Biden even had a press conference to congratulate the participants and to toot his own horn for being able to develop a bipartisan proposal in the polarized Washington environment.
But hold the presses! As it turns out, Biden has no intention of signing this “bipartisan” bill UNLESS the rest of his $6 trillion proposals pass both the House and Senate and are presented to him to signature. As reported by The Epoch Times and numerous other media outlets:
President Joe Biden on Thursday told reporters that he won’t be signing the bipartisan infrastructure deal if Congress does not also pass another measure—a budget resolution that Democrats call “human infrastructure” that they want to push through via reconciliation to bypass the Senate filibuster.
Biden told reporters at the White House that he would not sign the bipartisan deal if it was the “only one” that seeks his desk.
“I’m not just signing the bipartisan bill and forgetting about the rest that I proposed,” he later said, adding that the Democrat-pushed package that seeks to expand the nation’s social safety net is “equally important” to the bipartisan bill that deals with physical, more traditional infrastructure needs.
In the meantime, Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer also piped in:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who said at a press conference at the Capitol earlier on Thursday that she would not hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill “until the Senate passes the bipartisan bill and a reconciliation bill.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he supports Pelosi’s plan, calling it “a good way to ensure that both ends go forward.”
And then Biden told reporters that “‘I’m going to work closely with Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer to make sure that both move through the legislative process promptly and in tandem. Let me emphasize that: and in tandem.’”
So as it turns out, there is no “bipartisan” deal. There isn’t even a deal! Biden won’t sign it standing alone. Pelosi won’t even bring it up for a vote standing alone unless and until the Senate passes both the “bipartisan” bill, and the partisan one. So what exactly does “bipartisan” mean after all these linguistic gymnastics?
Gosh, this all sounds so familiar to us:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), Through the Looking-Glass, chapter 6, p. 205 (1934 Edition)(First published in 1872).