Tipsheet

Disarray: What Was the Point of Biden's Empty Trip to Capitol Hill?

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  October 04, 2021 10:15 AM

On Friday, the political media class was abuzz with excitement. President Biden was traveling to Capitol Hill to personally lobby congressional Democrats on his legislative agenda, which had been bogged down amid partisan infighting. Surely this was a sign of meaningful progress, journos reasoned, because why else would the White House agree to put the president's prestige and reputation on the line in such a prominent way? Some Hill Republicans reached the same conclusion ahead of POTUS' visit: 


A number of Democratic leaders were chirping about optimism earlier in the day, and momentum seemed to be building toward some agreement or accommodation on reconciliation that would satisfy enough progressives to push through the bipartisan infrastructure bill ("BIF"). Speaker Pelosi had been unable to wrangle the votes on Thursday, but a Friday success would have amounted to an act of legislative wizardry from a self-described "master legislator." And Biden was lending his efforts to get it done. And then...nothing. Biden came and went in a matter of minutes, his message did not include a clear or strong message in favor of any particular course of action, and he departed with absolutely nothing resolved. If anything, the presidential show of force was actually a show of tepid, unfocused confusion – which, if anything, appeared to make unified action less likely. What was achieved? Anything? 


Over the weekend, Democrats and journalists marveled at the counter-productive pointlessness of it all: 

“The fact that the president came to the Hill and whipped against his own bill is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” That late-night observation was just one of many we heard from frustrated lawmakers and senior aides stunned by what happened in the House on Friday. What senior Dems thought was going to happen: President JOE BIDEN was coming to the Hill to support Speaker NANCY PELOSI’s efforts to rally the party behind his historic $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan ahead of a Friday vote. What ended up happening instead: Biden told them he wanted to hold off on BIF until there was a reconciliation deal — even if that means delaying the vote for several more days or even weeks. Biden’s move put Pelosi in a tough spot. She’d promised House moderates a vote on BIF this week, but the president himself blew up that timeframe — essentially forcing Pelosi to choose between breaking her promise and defying her president. BUT HERE’S WHERE THINGS GET REALLY INTERESTING: Some progressive Democrats suggested to their colleagues that the White House — at its most senior levels — gave them a green light to tank the BIF vote if Pelosi went ahead with it, we’re told from three congressional sources.

Biden rolled in, didn't support Pelosi's position (apparently to her surprise), and didn't support the immediate passage of his own agenda item – the Senate-passed BIF legislation that he'd helped negotiate and had fully endorsed. Biden himself suggested that the process could play out of the course of weeks, and the Speaker has punted until the end of the month. Consequently, moderate-leaning Democrats are furious that Pelosi violated her ironclad pledge to bring BIF to the floor for a vote last week (a promise that had angered leftists, who'd been promised reconciliation would come first): 


Over in the Senate, Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema is sounding defiant, calling last week's drama "an ineffective stunt to gain leverage over a separate proposal": 

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Meanwhile, left-wingers like AOC are digging in on the insane proposition that roughly $1.5 trillion in reconciliation spending (Joe Manchin's top line that Chuck Schumer has known about for months) is effectively "nothing": 


Wait 'til she hears about this: 


It's pretty wild to see this framed as spending "cuts," given that the agenda doesn't exist in law. But this is obviously saber-rattling, with the intent of jarring something loose. Deep distrust, toxic recriminations, and flailing mismanagement. Dems in disarray: 


This is also a very strange detail from a very strange presidential gambit: 


But is it really a surprise that a political operation that shields POTUS from taking questions from heavily-Democratic journalists also shields him from taking questions via literal elected Democrats? I'll leave you with these exchanges – c'mon, man: