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Playbook: "Reality, meet D.C.”
MAYBE IT’S THE COLD, the impending wintry mix that’s bearing down on Washington. Maybe it’s because we’re about to leave 2020 -- that wretched, disgusting year -- in the rear view.
MAYBE IT’S THE COLD, the impending wintry mix that’s bearing down on Washington. Maybe it’s because we’re about to leave 2020 -- that wretched, disgusting year -- in the rear view.
WHO KNOWS WHAT EXACTLY PROMPTED THIS, but reality is beginning to intrude in Washington.
REALITY 1) @JOEBIDEN is going to be the president. This was obvious to most breathing, thinking human beings with a pulse, but many Republican members of Congress were willfully blind to it.
REALITY 1) @JOEBIDEN is going to be the president. This was obvious to most breathing, thinking human beings with a pulse, but many Republican members of Congress were willfully blind to it.
BUT A FEW OF THEM BEGAN JOINING THE REST OF US on Planet Earth on Monday. @SenThomTillis called BIDEN the “presumptive president.” @LindseyGrahamSC -- who was calling around to state election officials a few weeks ago -- said “it’s a very, very narrow path for the president."
SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-Mo.), the chair of the inauguration, said: “We’ll deal with Vice President Biden as the president-elect. The president continues obviously to have all the options he has available to him, but the electoral vote today was significant.”
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN took it further than most Republicans, straight up congratulating BIDEN after a month of saying he was waiting for the process to play out.
REALITY 2) It seems painfully obvious to nearly everyone on Capitol Hill that a Covid relief deal is at hand -- should the leaders want it. This deal would include a mix of a renewal of the PPP, vaccine money, rental assistance, unemployment benefits & school $.
SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK > @SenSchumer and @SpeakerPelosi said they were for state and local funding, but declined to draw a bright red line -- as they had before. @senatemajldr did not even mention liability overhaul in his floor remarks.
State/local and liability are not attainable at the moment. Those 2 pieces are clearly falling away. Now the question becomes: Do the 2 sides have the courage, desire & political will to get this done? Scary thing is if they don’t get it done this month, it might never get done.
REALITY 3) THIS COVID-OMNIBUS COMBO can get real messy real quickly. If they release the omnibus bill today -- that’s Tuesday -- maybe it can make it to the House floor Thursday.
Floor consideration in the Senate by Friday -- the deadline -- seems tough, since all senators would need to consent for a quick debate and vote.
If Congress needs a short-term stopgap, then maybe the Senate would stay in for the weekend to get it done. In that scenario, would they give themselves longer to try to reach a Covid deal? Could the government shut down?
