Reconciliation and the Three Bears
You know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears…where the little girl tries out a variety of things, including finding one bowl of porridge too hot, the other too cold, and the third just right. Never mind the improper lesson of the story, that it’s apparently alright to just barge into someone’s home and help yourself.
Well, come to think of it, that sort of is like the Democrats’ plan for wealth redistribution…just barge in and help yourself. But I digress.
I was originally thinking that this is like the dance of reconciliation tied to the $3.5 trillion human infrastructure effort. Some, like Sen. Joe Manchin, say the price tag is too high. Some, like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, say the price tag is too low. But unlike Goldilocks’ attempts to find the right porridge, chair, and bed…in the current political world, threading the needle to come up with a bill that can pass a 50-50 Senate and a House that Democrats control by such a small margin, they can only afford to lose 3 of their members, is going to be tough.
Those who don’t think this bill goes far enough are going to scream if it’s any lower than $3.5 trillion, and we already know it’s dead on arrival in the Senate if it stays at $3.5 trillion.
If you believe the bluster of the moment, Democrats on both sides of the issue are threatening to walk away if the bill is not to their liking…and that might mean the third option of “just right” is going to be hard to find, if not impossible.
