So It Was The CBC Who Actually Came Up With The Compromise That Got Infrastructure Passed

[Me.]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/06/us/politics/infrastructure-black-caucus-vote.html

"WASHINGTON — Another showdown day over President Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda dawned Friday full of optimism, even after the drubbing that Democrats took in the off-year elections on Tuesday. But by afternoon, lawmakers again seemed stuck when leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus entered Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office."

[Bongo Prophet]

1. Sounds like an interesting article, but it's paywalled - Can anyone give an excerpt?

[Me.]

4. Somehow I Was Able To Get Past It Much To My Surprise

Try it...here's some of it

"Seeking to bridge the gap between a resolute clutch of balking Democratic moderates and a much larger group of liberals demanding that the president’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan only pass concurrently with his $1.85 trillion social welfare and climate change bill, the Black lawmakers proposed a plan that initially seemed far too timid and convoluted: pass the infrastructure bill immediately, then hold a good-faith procedural vote on the larger bill that would have to suffice before its final vote in mid-November.

Ms. Pelosi agreed to the deal and then, tellingly, sent the low-key chairwoman of the Black Caucus, Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, out to waiting reporters to tell the world. In effect, the speaker had harnessed one faction of her unruly Democrats to win over two others, and she understood that the soft-spoken African American lawmaker might have had more influence at that point than she did.

Nine hours later, at 11:20 p.m., House Democrats, with help from a few Republicans, sent to Mr. Biden the largest public works bill since President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the Interstate System. They also took a major step toward approving a stalled sweeping social safety net measure, producing the kind of legislative progress many in the party say was long overdue and necessary to avoid an electoral disaster for Democrats in next year’s midterms."

Kudos to the CBC and Rep. Beatty in particular. And how smart of Leader Pelosi to know what just to do.

[Cha]

29. TY for this excerpt, Me!

Nancy knows how to delegate... that's part of her brilliance!

[Me.]

40. Aloha Cha

yes she is brilliant...

[Cha]

41. Aloha! To Nancy & her Brilliance!

[Hortensis]

37. :) Pelosi knows every vote in her caucus and worked with every person

and power group pulling this through. It'd be extremely surprising if she and the CBC didn't arrange this together to make things happen.

Of course the CBC's a significant power group who deserve recognition for the role they played in creating and passing these bills -- while media attention was distracted by the oppositional activities that cost us elections across the nation. No doubt colleagues who put their own hearts into these bills agree.

Big issues for the CBC include funding infrastructure development serving neglected black communities, clean water of course, funding for research facilities at black universities, increased child tax credit, affordable housing, universal child care and pre-K, and Medicare expansions. And more of course.

Thank you, CBC.

[Me.]

39. Isn't It So Like Nancy P. To Step Back As Someone Else Took THe Lead

and kudos to Rep, Beatty for doing so.

[Hortensis]

42. Her reputation's famously for putting others up front to get

recognition they've earned while remaining in the background amap herself. You'll always see this.

Her reputation's also for being a strong leader. She couldn't know how 435 members of the house were liable to vote at any time (these days more like 250 most of the time, of course, including any temporarily swingable Republicans) without maintaining continuous relations with them. And of course working with the various caucuses.

[George II]

6. I'll post the first four paragraphs as a response to the OP.

[Sneederbunk]

2. Too bad they could not get all their members to vote for it.

[Me.]

3. Yes

I wondered about that and if it created any issues. Weren't most of the no votes members of the CBC?

[Sneederbunk]

5. Four Nay votes were members.

[George II]

31. Those four plus two others, all six Nays, are members of the CPC.

[abqtommy]

7. snark alert on: Oh yes, I believe every word the New York Times ever prints.

alert off. "Drubbing"? Really, NYT?

[Me.]

9. Do You Dispute That The CBC Deserves Credit?

[abqtommy]

12. Not at all. In my op here my objection was to the use of the word "drubbing"

in the original op.

[Me.]

15. Got It

that is why the NYT is receiving so much criticism of late

[Deuce]

38. That irritated me also...

[George II]

8. Here are the first four paragraphs:

How a $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Survived an Intraparty Brawl
Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to a deal proposed by the Congressional Black Caucus, mobilizing one faction of Democratic lawmakers to win over two others.

WASHINGTON — Another showdown day over President Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda dawned Friday full of optimism, even after the drubbing that Democrats took in the off-year elections on Tuesday. But by afternoon, lawmakers again seemed stuck when leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus entered Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

Seeking to bridge the gap between a resolute clutch of balking Democratic moderates and a much larger group of liberals demanding that the president’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan only pass concurrently with his $1.85 trillion social welfare and climate change bill, the Black lawmakers proposed a plan that initially seemed far too timid and convoluted: pass the infrastructure bill immediately, then hold a good-faith procedural vote on the larger bill that would have to suffice before its final vote in mid-November.

Ms. Pelosi agreed to the deal and then, tellingly, sent the low-key chairwoman of the Black Caucus, Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, out to waiting reporters to tell the world. In effect, the speaker had harnessed one faction of her unruly Democrats to win over two others, and she understood that the soft-spoken African American lawmaker might have had more influence at that point than she did.

Nine hours later, at 11:20 p.m., House Democrats, with help from a few Republicans, sent to Mr. Biden the largest public works bill since President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the Interstate System. They also took a major step toward approving a stalled sweeping social safety net measure, producing the kind of legislative progress many in the party say was long overdue and necessary to avoid an electoral disaster for Democrats in next year’s midterms.

By the way, I saw on Twitter on Friday night that the CPC disrespectfully locked Representative Beatty out of their caucus. Wish I'd bookmarked it.

In addition, four members of the CBC are also members of the CPC, so they defied the ultimate wishes of their caucus chairs, Rep. Beatty and Rep. Jayapal.

[Me.]

10. THank You

[George II]

14. I found the tweet and posted it below.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. The CPC did what????

That's childish.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

23. The Real Squad

Link to tweet

[betsuni]

27. +1

[Cha]

32. The Get Things Done

CBC Caucus!

Rt TY!

[NurseJackie]

36. Boom! Getting things done!

Boom! Getting things done! That's what I'm talking about!

-- NOT shitting on Democrats & party leaders.
-- NOT trying to make Democrats "look bad".
-- NOT trying to exploit divisions, resentment, suspicious and distrust.
-- NOT trying to suppress the vote through negativity!

[George II]

13. Here's the tweet about Beatty being locked out for over an hour:

Link to tweet

And this guy did a great job Friday night of minute-by-minute reporting of the drama outside the two caucus rooms:

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender

[Me.]

18. UnBelievable

Especially when all she wanted to do was talk to them. I'm beginning to think the progressives don't know what they're doing. They sure didn't handle this entire situation well. Weeks ago the Speaker asked them not to embarrass the president and lo and behold...

[Cha]

34. Call me crazy.. I think

they do it to themselves.

[Me.]

44. You? Crazy?

[sheshe2]

28. Disrespectful, indeed.

Seems they thrive on drama and adolescent behavior.

[Cha]

33. Rt TY But no surprise

[maxsolomon]

16. Again, beyond Virginia, where were the Dems "drubbed"?

New Jersey Gov? No, they won that.

[Me.]

17. According To Rachel Tues.Was Auctually A Good Night For The Dems

[George II]

19. Here's a video of Chair Beatty's thoughts about the role of the CPC.

https://www.msnbc.com/sunday-show

[Me.]

20. You Are So On It

Your link is all you can gett...you just have to click on her video on the side and wait for the ad to finish

[George II]

25. Yes, for the most part MSNBC doesn't have standalone videos so one has to dig slightly.

[betsuni]

21. K&R

[Me.]

26. ...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

22. the Congressional Black Caucus, AS ALWAYS, made this vote happen.

Link to tweet

[Me.]

24. You Are So Right

and was on this right from the get-go posting into the CBC group.

[Cha]

35. The CBC Does Make It Happen!

Rt TY!

[sheshe2]

30. Recommended!

Thank you, Me!

CBC.

[George II]

43. Having grown up in NYC (lived in 4 boroughs), I always look to see how the NYC congressional....

....delegation votes.

There are 13 members representing NYC, the 3rd and 5th through 16th. The entire delegation voted Yea, including the lone repubican, except for the 14th and 16th.

Of the two caucuses, there are 10 NYC representatives in the CPC, 8 voted Yea, and 5 in the CBC, 4 voted Yea.