Sen. Lindsey Graham was the first to cave to right-wing pressure, as he tantrumed that Biden made the GOP look like “f*cking idiots” on infrastructure.
Graham ranted at Politico:
“If he’s gonna tie them together, he can forget it!” Graham said. “I’m not doing that. That’s extortion! I’m not going to do that. The Dems are being told you can’t get your bipartisan work product passed unless you sign on to what the left wants, and I’m not playing that game.”
Graham said the five Republicans negotiating the deal never told him about the linkage strategy, and he does not believe that they were aware of it. “Most Republicans could not have known that,” he said. “There’s no way. You look like a fucking idiot now.” He added, “I don’t mind bipartisanship, but I’m not going to do a suicide mission.”
Everybody knew that there was going to be a two-track process. Democrats have been talking publicly for months about how they were going to do both reconciliation and a bipartisan bill.
Lindsey Graham was lying. He knew what the process was. Senate Republicans were hoping that Democrats wouldn’t have the votes for the reconciliation bill, so Biden would have to settle for the smaller bill.
The Republican threats are empty. If they bail on the bipartisan bill, Democrats will pass it using reconciliation. President Biden already got his victory lap and photo-op.
The battle has been lost, and if Republicans want to cave to pressure, they will be blamed for the collapse of the deal.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor, who is White House Press Pool, and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association