The “Perils Of Pauline” Rollercoaster Ride Ahead In Congress
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | October 1, 2021
“Get ready for a Perils of Pauline rollercoaster ride in Congress in the coming weeks.”
Legislation to prevent a government shutdown passed on Wednesday.
Legislation to increase or suspend the debt ceiling will pass.
Infrastructure legislation will pass.
Budget reconciliation legislation will pass.
And, legislation to protect the voting rights of every eligible American must pass in order to preserve our democracy as we know it.
We are watching sausage being made in Congress and it’s not a pretty sight.
The media and pundits are having a field day in their daily reporting on the trials and tribulations of Democrats in the House and Senate.
And, it’s not clear just how long the debt ceiling, infrastructure, reconciliation, and voting rights legislation initiatives will take before they are done. Both real and artificial deadlines have increased the sense of a Congress in crisis.
Razor-thin Democratic majorities in the House and Senate have given disproportionate influence to any small number of House Democrats and to any single Democratic Senator who want to draw a line in the sand.
Consequently, the vast majority of Democrats in Congress have been controlled by a handful of House Members and two Senators.
Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is playing a devious, irresponsible, and hypocritical game of Russian roulette on raising the debt ceiling limit. McConnell knows the debt ceiling will be raised but he is determined to do everything possible to squeeze every ounce of partisan advantage out of the situation before it passes.
McConnell’s hard line leadership of Senate Republicans to oppose the debt ceiling increase after Senate Democrats joined Senate Republicans to increase the debt ceiling during the Trump presidency, reflects his long congressional history of raw obstructionism and hypocrisy – all for partisan gain – no matter what the cost to the American people.
House and Senate Democrats, meanwhile, cannot let any of these measures fail for both policy and political reasons.
The infrastructure and reconciliation bills encompass the agenda which President Biden was elected to accomplish and which the American people need to address urgent problems facing our country.
The voting rights legislation is essential to ensure that the greatest wave of voter suppression and voter discrimination laws enacted in modern times do not deny millions of eligible Americans their sacred right to vote.
Voting rights legislation must be enacted to prevent Republicans in state legislatures, backed by congressional Republicans in Washington, from rigging – some might say stealing – the 2022 and 2024 presidential and congressional elections with their state voter suppression, voter discrimination, and voter subversion laws, fraudulent audits, and partisan gerrymandering.
If congressional Democrats fail to get these measures done, they will have failed the American people and they can expect to return to the minority in Congress in 2023.
So, get ready for a Perils of Pauline rollercoaster ride in the coming weeks.
With our democracy and the needs and interests of the American people at stake, President Biden and Democrats in Congress must succeed. They have no choice.
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