The Situation Room: Senator Sanders on Biden's new Climate Plan

[Donkees]

Link to tweet

[Demsrule86]

1. No, you can't actually...can only use it in a limited fashion.

[karynnj]

3. I am sure he knows that and they might use it for the infrastructure bill. Sanders IS chair of the

Budget committee. The Biden team signaled they would work with Republicans, but only if they are serious and only for a short time.

[George II]

31. He should be reminded of the minimum wage amendment and how that went.

[karynnj]

32. I don't think he forgot

It is very true that there are things that can not be put in a "budget" bill that is done under reconciliation. I don't think it surprised many who followed other bills that something like a minimum wage would be disallowed. I think it was worth them ASKING the parliamentarian rather than assuming that it would not be allowed.

I have not heard any of the Senate experts address what elements of the Biden proposal - which is not yet a bill to my knowledge - could not be done under reconciliation. The bigger problem, at the moment, with planning to go under reconciliation is whether we could lose any Democrats just because of that. Manchin who definitively said he was against eliminating the filibuster has not 100% ruled out doing this under reconciliation though he has argued that he prefers this to be a bipartisan bill under regular order. However, that was before the idiotic McConnell bill that is much smaller and does things like paying for highway and bridge repair through a tax on electric vehicles. I think Manchin will be key to this vote. In 2010, several(I think 14) DEMOCRATIC senators - some favorites on DU - were not willing to sign onto the climate change bill because they represented coal states. That bill, like this one, worked to compensate the "losers" of the shift away from coal.

Given our current numbers, we need every Democrat if we do this under reconciliation - unless it has Republican support willing to vote for it even under reconciliation.

[George II]

33. Indeed, they asked the parliamentarian and she ruled that it was improper....

...but he tried putting it in the bill anyway. That's what I'm talking about.

It resulted in some unreasonable (and off-base) criticism of 8 Democrats who are still being bashed online for the false conclusion that they "voted against the $15 minimum wage", which they didn't.

Just this week Justice Democrats sent out a fundraising email bashing those eight Democrats.

I hope we don't see a rerun of that again.

[sheshe2]

2. Welp.

[div class="excerpt"Glossary Term | Reconciliation Process
reconciliation process - A process established in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by which Congress changes existing laws to conform tax and spending levels to the levels set in a budget resolution. Changes recommended by committees pursuant to a reconciliation instruction are incorporated into a reconciliation measure.


https://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/reconciliation_process.htm

I am not a Senator, however by my 1 minute read climate change does not fit under the reconciliation act.

[Me.]

4. Exactly...I'm Sure PJB & His Team Know What They Are Doing

It's why his poll numbers are so high especially among 18-29 year old people where he's leading everyone else by 10%.

[sheshe2]

9. Of course they know what they are doing, Me.

Yes polling at 61% in his first 100 days, almost 100.

Bernie was suppose to have the young ones at his side, looks like that would be Joe now. Joe is leading the way to a cleaner future and one that they can hope to survive from gun violence and Vawa...so much more.

PJB is giving us all a sense of security and a hope for a normal life.

[Me.]

11. ...

[sheshe2]

18. ...

[George II]

15. Bazinga!

[sheshe2]

22. PJB is giving everyone hope.

He has surpassed his goal on vaccinations. That had to be his first goal.

The young ones are looking up to him. They believe they have a future now.

Our littlest one, shy of two attended her big sisters 5th birthday party. She wore a mask. It was outdoors, with 4 friends and a pony. Food was wrapped and handed out as the kids left.

This is what we do now. We protect each other.

[lagomorph777]

5. Ah, but President Biden is not treating climate as a 1-minute problem.

He's integrating climate plans into every department of the Government, and large parts of those plans are budget-related.

[sheshe2]

7. I never said PJB was.

Fact is I posted the Senates definition of Reconciliation. Senator Sanders misspoke when he said it could be used. It does not apply here. I was correcting the Senator and not the President.

[fishwax]

8. the Senator was right, though, sheshe2

Dems have been talking and speculating about this strategy for climate change since back before the inauguration, but of course the Covid Relief bill was first in line, and there are limitations to how many bills you can actually pass using reconciliation (usually one per year, but we fortunately have a few extra chances this term).

[sheshe2]

10. Definition Re: Reconciliation.

[div class="excerpt"Glossary Term | Reconciliation Process
reconciliation process - A process established in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by which Congress changes existing laws to conform tax and spending levels to the levels set in a budget resolution. Changes recommended by committees pursuant to a reconciliation instruction are incorporated into a reconciliation measure.



https://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/reconciliation_process.htm

[fishwax]

12. a climate change bill will likely affect tax and spending levels

It's the same way they used budget reconciliation to get things like Covid Relief (and hopefully infrastructure) through. Because we are in the unusual circumstance of getting multiple shots at reconciliation this term (usually it's one per year), we might have a shot with climate change too.

[sheshe2]

26. So when will Bernie be presenting his climate change bill?

I hope it is soon, we need it. We must do something now.

[fishwax]

27. he's talking about advancing Biden's climate plan via the infrastructure bill and reconciliation

Why would he present his own climate change bill?

[lagomorph777]

36. +1 Reconciliation is appropriate because many climate items are budget items.

And of course, if Bernie is promoting Joe's proposal, why would he introduce something else?

[fishwax]

13. Here's Schumer arguing for the same thing months ago

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063723531

I remember him talking about it on Maddow back then:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last night he would attempt to pass President Biden's climate agenda with a simple majority, and he urged the president to unlock additional powers by declaring climate change a national emergency.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats would pass climate and infrastructure measures through budget reconciliation, which allows revenue and spending measures to sidestep the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Democrats could pass some — but not all — climate legislation without Republicans by using their 50-50 Senate majority, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote.

"We're looking at how we make 'build it back better' fit — as much of it into reconciliation as we can," Schumer said in an interview on "The Rachel Maddow Show," referring to the slogan of Biden's climate and infrastructure plan.

[George II]

16. But it can't be done via reconciliation. Almost everyone knows that.

[fishwax]

20. Someone should tell Charles Schumer

Because he's been talking about this strategy for months.

[George II]

21. Yes, he mentioned it months ago, before they had to use reconciliation for the relief bill.

Has he said anything about it recently?

[fishwax]

23. well, yeah ... we get extra shots at reconciliation this year

That's how infrastructure is going to get through, if it does. And infrastructure is going to advance Biden's Climate plan.

[Hortensis]

35. This. Donkees posts Sanders, but real achievers are leading this

and know what they're doing, and it is good that Sanders is on board. As for fighting climate crisis and building tomorrow's infrastructure, as you say. There's so much overlap and synergy in the plan that they can be viewed as practically the same thing.

[karynnj]

34. I think the Republicans using it for the huge tax cuts for the richest was more questionable

They essentially used voodoo economics (to use GHWB's language) to argue that the huge tax cuts would be paid for by enormous growth in the economy coming from these tax cuts. (Reconciliation requires that the net of the changes lower the deficit or keep it the same.)

Remember that a bill containing many changes in the Senate version of the ACA and a large student loan improvement package was passed in early 2010 under reconciliation. This was done as part of a "package deal" where the House passed the Senate ACA act passed under regular process with 60 votes as is AND then passed this smaller bill under reconciliation.

This was the only way to get some of the changes the House wanted and that the Senate would have agreed to in a reconciliation bill that would have been used IF Martha Coakley would have won in Massachusetts. With Brown's win, we no longer had 60 votes.

[fishwax]

6. I think climate change will affect both tax and spending levels

So there will certainly be elements of the plan that could be subject to reconciliation. Presumably the republicans would argue against it and the senate parliamentarian would have to make a ruling.

[fishwax]

24. This is Bernie *supporting* the Biden agenda ... it's odd that you seem critical of him for it

I mean, I understand that there are negative attitudes towards and various criticisms of Bernie that pop up on occasion among democrats, but it seems those would be more effectively deployed when Sanders is actually being critical of Biden or interfering with the agenda somehow. This is just him pressing the democratic agenda in line with the democratic strategy for passing infrastructure (which will also be key to Biden's climate plan) through the congress.

[sheshe2]

30. Hm.

Ok.

[George II]

14. It's not going to happen that way. No chance. No way.

[sheshe2]

17. No.

It won't be that easy. A lot of hard work is involved, stamina and focus on the issue. Not a fly by and move on. This is a serious issue the affects all our lives.

[George II]

19. A lot of hard work is involved? Uh oh.

[sheshe2]

25. Welp.

[betsuni]

28. ...

[sheshe2]

29. ...