Congress Faces Votes to Avoid Gov’t Shutdown, Pass Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill as Dems Negotiate Spending Plan

Write all the names down of those that vote to shut down and go home early so we can publish them and get them out of government! The agenda is full and needs their attention. If they'd rather go home they certainly should............just never come back!

These Democrats have to be stopped before we have no country left to call America

I want a honest breakdown and I will call it out

Andy: Thanks my friend. I have no 'pride of authorship' and do not mind anyone sending comments that may be helpful to anyone else. You can certainly send anything you may find helpful to anyone that you like. We are really at an important juncture where changes are desperately needed and I like to quote your fellow Texan BO, who sometime ago came up with this great philosophical comment: 'The status quo has got to go'. Peace!

You know, the Reconciliation Bill is budgeted at $3.5 Trillion over ten years or $350 Billion per year. It is widely supported by all voting demographics, including 70% of all WV voters. Manchin is holding out for $1.5 Trillion. Here is a compromise that meets all the objectives. Let’s go for $1.75 Trillion over 5 years or $350 Billion per year. Everybody gets what they say they want and need. The electorate’s will is honored for at least five years. Before the five years is up, I am certain that there will be lessons learned which will need correction. There will be more of our youthful voters coming of age and they are generally concerned about their futures and will be more concerned as the Climate Crisis continues to worsen and much more funding may be required to complete and augment that which would be started today. McConnell and other fossilized Republican Faction members will be history and we may actually have legislators wanting to legislate instead just enrich themselves. … … … If the Dems can get this done, it should be a great help in keeping the trump inspired Republican Faction under control. Meanwhile, let’s threaten to start ethics violations for Sinema to get her expelled from the Senate for initiating fund raisers from corporate interests who want to stop the Biden agenda. In her case, I believe it’s big pharma who does not want Medicare to negotiate drug prices so that Americans will still have to pay several orders of magnitude higher prices than anyone else. … … … If Manchin is telling the truth, settling for half of the total funding over half of the time meets all of his objections, and he should settle. If he is lying in order to protect his big-oil donor ‘pipeline’, let’s make sure that the 70% of WV voters who support the Build Back Better Reconciliation package know that Manchin almost single-handedly stopped it. And use this as a rallying cry to finally rid the country of the Republican Faction and conservative Democrats dedicated to protect the will of their big-money benefactors instead of the people that they were elected to represent,

jimK, I have to really SUPPORT your very reasonable and 'Diplomatic' compromise that you suggest. It really hits the middle of all concerns and I can't really see any argument against. .... From jimK's post at https://www.causes.com/comments/1500397 ... "Manchin is holding out for $1.5 Trillion. Here is a compromise that meets all the objectives. Let’s go for $1.75 Trillion over 5 years or $350 Billion per year. Everybody gets what they say they want and need. The electorate’s will is honored for at least five years. Before the five years is up, I am certain that there will be lessons learned which will need correction. There will be more of our youthful voters coming of age and they are generally concerned about their futures and will be more concerned as the Climate Crisis continues to worsen and much more funding may be required to complete and augment that which would be started today." .... Please read his full post. As I'm from TX, no use talking to ANY of my Reps, so I just sent the following post to the Democrats main organization at https://democrats.org/contact-us/ . ... My message to them if you want to copy, .... "Come on guys... Take your full 3.5T over 10 year plan down to a 1.75T over 5 year plan so 'adjustments' to this future plan may be implemented. Manchin and Sinema may go for this! It's within their budget even if you need to drop a 1/4T to get the deal done." ... I'm planning on contacting as many Dem Senators and Representatives I can contact with that message. THANKS jimK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you don’t mind me stealing from your idea??! PS. I'm NOT sending a copy to my Reps. (LOL!!)

If Democrats don't get this passed because Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema blew up the deal then they don't deserve to be in power. Much as I despise the current Republican Party; (what happened to the decent Republicans I used to vote for?) they at least stick together like glue. Even though the current batch is full of assholes, fascists and people who don't govern anymore as they only exist to gaslight and disrupt the government that they claim they want to lead they at least hold their party together. There are so many destructive things going on today with going after women's choices over their own bodies and destinies; voting rights being gutted; the rise of autocracy and an alternate reality where January 6th was a stroll though the capital on a beautiful sunny day and vaccine mandates are killing America rather than a deadly pandemic. The Supreme Court is totally out of step with the majority of America today and is literally gutting the past 50 years worth of progress the country has made. By the time they are done women will be barefoot and pregnant and everyone will have their own armory in their homes. Oh and business will rule all and the surfs will grovel for their measly pay. If we don't do something with voting rights we will not see power for 10-15 years in the future and by that time there will be very few of us that will be happy with what we've become in the meantime. We also need to look at doing something with the court which will mean getting rid of the filibuster in order to balance the court, setting term limits, etc. We also need to ram through legislation on climate change and we need to get things done for the people who voted these folks in to the House, the Senate and the Presidency so as to get these things accomplished. Get er done! Use the power you were given as the Republicans definitely do when they are put in charge.

Trump’s tax breaks to the rich cost $2.3 Trillion…Roll them back! Take the $2.3 Trillion & add it to the bipartisan $1 Trillion infrastructure bill!!! This is an investment for ALL Americans! Pass the big package.

What is wrong with Kyrsten Sinema? Why are the people of Arizona allowing her to hold up the whole show? How does she think she's going to win in a Democratic primary after this? Or are her wealthy corporate donors more important?

So America is still a country of the people, by the people, and for the people — as long as those people are Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

I need to update my opinion on Senator Sinema. She is clearly nothing more than a self serving snide smart ass B***h who needs her ass kicked right out of office.

Andy S: Thanks for the Manchin comment. You know that Manchin had also never addressed the need to deal with Climate Change. I find all of his objections to be pretty wrapping paper to cover the real gift to him, big oil and chamber of commerce support. And sure, injecting a lot of money into the economy will bring some temporary inflation pressures until things settle out. We have programs and well-experienced institutions that know how to deal with inflation’s impact on the economy. The flip side of not fully funding Biden’s Build Back Better human infrastructure program would be the negligent genocide of much of youth and future generations and the huge costs of living in a Climate damaged world, Sorry, I would rather have to deal with some inflation; overall, it is just way more cost-effective.

If congress doesn't give the people what they were promised and rightly capable of given, there will be hell to pay 2022/2024. Progressives were 34% of the vote that put Biden in the white house!

The debt limit requirement is right there with buggy whip safety laws, a useless artifact from a bygone age. Why do something that continually hamstrings our government and can be so damaging to our country’s future when a Political Faction decides to weaponize it? The debt limit is something that no other peer nation uses because it is basically totally illogical nonsense. If our country borrows money for whatever our country pays it back. To not do so because some artificial limit was reached is nonsense. … … … A great part of our country’s role in the world is the strength of our currency and the integrity of supporting our debt. It is why sanctions we impose have so much clout. it is why so much of the world is willing to lend us money to finance our debt. If we start defaulting when the debt limit is reached next month - all of that begins to collapse, markets will rail and we would head straight into a repression as our influence in the world crashes as well. … … … McConnell and his Faction continues to play really dangerous political games with our country’s future. His and their increasing irresponsibly are putting our country’s near term and long term health in serious jeopardy - just because they feel that they can score some ‘political points’. … …

Pennsylvanian Commenters, I'm sorry, can you please remove this Critically Racist Fool ASAP! Leave it to him and Pittsburgh will be a Beach Town and Rich White Men will Forever Rule. During Tuesday’s hearing, Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, argued that the Fed is exceeding its legal requirements. “It’s therefore concerning to see the Fed — especially its regional banks — wade into politically charged areas like global warming and racial justice,” Toomey said. “These efforts undermine the Fed’s independence and distract from the Fed’s actual responsibilities, like controlling inflation.” Full article: A potential Powell renomination for Fed faces some dissent WASHINGTON (AP) — Resistance to the potential renomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell intensified this week, ... https://apnews.com/article/66214bf883e69d8c69feacc8f6c5632c

Well, at least we now have 'some' news from Manchin. From the release on his website ... https://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsroom/op-eds/why-i-wont-support-spending-another-35-trillion ... I think you really should read the whole release. He does have some points to consider. One of his problems is real to many, many of us here. From the release ... "I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs. This is even more important now as the Social Security and Medicare Trustees have sounded the alarm that these life-saving programs will be insolvent and benefits could start to be reduced as soon as 2026 for Medicare and 2033, a year earlier than previously projected, for Social Security." ... Maybe we could spend a little of the $3.5T (or whatever can be decided on) bill to shore up those programs. But one item he never mentions is what would be the impact of supplying 'The People', you know the bottom, instead of giving away to the rich as he normally does. Let's try BOTTOM/UP instead of TOP/DOWN for once!

It is good there is a bipartisan vote. Now both sides need to order that the border to be closed until we get this epidemic gone. Here are the latest figures since January 20th at noontime to present 251 days. Cases 19,008,392 new cases yesterday 66,608. Deaths 428,360 new deaths yesterday 1,353. President Trump with no vaccines until the last 38 days had the following in one full year. Cases 24,717,808 Deaths 271,761. Comrade dear leader Beijing Biden with the borders wide open with no quarantine or testing will have at the end of his first year with 3 vaccines since day one the following Cases 27,641,686 Deaths 622,914. Close the border and build the wall

I just read that Dog, the Bounty Hunter is shopping for a new TV Show. Maybe the search for the “lost” Trump ballots can be a multi-episode arc. I bet Dog finds Grandma Karen's ballot in some city’s dumpsite because her grandson, Billy Bobby Ray, never made it to the post office after visiting the crooked doctor for more opioids for the pain in his back from working in the concrete plant. Dog's fans will lap it up!

Why are we forced to edit rather than add a second comment on some issues? Where’s the Causes rulebook? Anyway.... I just added some background on the Debt Ceiling, even though I still can't figure out how anyone ever thought something separate from the budget process was ever a good idea. Today it made me so annoyed I started to research Mitch McConnell’s probable heirs and see if there is someone to start a campaign against them. I hope some folks can effectively attack McConnell’s Kentucky Political Machine Talk about being a handmaiden to some oligarchs! See McConnell planning an 'escape hatch' in case he leaves Senate before his term expires, report says https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-plans-possible-senate-exit-kentucky-legislature-report-2021-3

I do believe education is one of our most important things and anyway we can help teachers I am all in support of BUT why does helping the Afghanistan people have anything to do with our government shutting down? the face that the debt keeps rising and throwing money around left and right is one way to insure it may actually happen...