What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?
-
The Democrats have the White House, control of the House of Representatives, and control of the U.S. Senate (barely) in the last 22 months or so. What have they done with all that in the last 22 months?
A few legislations that I think of as "major":
- American Rescue Plan of 2021 -- the last of COVID-induced public health and economic rescue package
- Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act -- "infrastructure week" finally became real
- CHIPS and Science Act -- this one boosts the American semiconductor industry, good for national security, good for business
- Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 -- significant deficit reduction, "Medicare negotiation of drug prices" finally became real
The Biden administration's executive orders:
- Severely restrict semiconductor (and semiconductor technology) export to China -- a much smarter, more effective containment of China compared to Trump's performative "trade war"
- Partial student loan forgiveness -- included here probably due to recency bias, certainly impactful for the low-income folks on the hook to repay student loans
What made a lot of noise but ultimately hasn't get done:
- Multi-$Trillion "Build Back Better" plans/variants -- no universal pre-K and no "free (community) college" for every one
- Getting Iran back into JCPOA or JCPOA substitute
- Congressional investigation of the Jan.6 Capitol riot -- quite a few hearings, some higher profile than others, but still no "final report"
- Electoral Count Act reform -- supposedly has the support of >10 GOP Senators to get over filibuster, but still hasn't made it out of the Senate
- Legalization of the recreational use of marijuana at the federal level
All in all, a pretty good two years.
@Axtremus said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
What have they done with all that in the last 22 months?
Every one of those things are evil, wasteful, and just plain stupid.
Thanks for reinforcing the will to get rid of these idiots.
-
The Democrats have the White House, control of the House of Representatives, and control of the U.S. Senate (barely) in the last 22 months or so. What have they done with all that in the last 22 months?
A few legislations that I think of as "major":
- American Rescue Plan of 2021 -- the last of COVID-induced public health and economic rescue package
- Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act -- "infrastructure week" finally became real
- CHIPS and Science Act -- this one boosts the American semiconductor industry, good for national security, good for business
- Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 -- significant deficit reduction, "Medicare negotiation of drug prices" finally became real
The Biden administration's executive orders:
- Severely restrict semiconductor (and semiconductor technology) export to China -- a much smarter, more effective containment of China compared to Trump's performative "trade war"
- Partial student loan forgiveness -- included here probably due to recency bias, certainly impactful for the low-income folks on the hook to repay student loans
What made a lot of noise but ultimately hasn't get done:
- Multi-$Trillion "Build Back Better" plans/variants -- no universal pre-K and no "free (community) college" for every one
- Getting Iran back into JCPOA or JCPOA substitute
- Congressional investigation of the Jan.6 Capitol riot -- quite a few hearings, some higher profile than others, but still no "final report"
- Electoral Count Act reform -- supposedly has the support of >10 GOP Senators to get over filibuster, but still hasn't made it out of the Senate
- Legalization of the recreational use of marijuana at the federal level
All in all, a pretty good two years.
@Axtremus said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
The Democrats have the White House, control of the House of Representatives, and control of the U.S. Senate (barely) in the last 22 months or so. What have they done with all that in the last 22 months?
A few legislations that I think of as "major":
- American Rescue Plan of 2021 -- the last of COVID-induced public health and economic rescue package
- Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act -- "infrastructure week" finally became real
- CHIPS and Science Act -- this one boosts the American semiconductor industry, good for national security, good for business
- Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 -- significant deficit reduction, "Medicare negotiation of drug prices" finally became real
The Biden administration's executive orders:
- Severely restrict semiconductor (and semiconductor technology) export to China -- a much smarter, more effective containment of China compared to Trump's performative "trade war"
- Partial student loan forgiveness -- included here probably due to recency bias, certainly impactful for the low-income folks on the hook to repay student loans
What made a lot of noise but ultimately hasn't get done:
- Multi-$Trillion "Build Back Better" plans/variants -- no universal pre-K and no "free (community) college" for every one
- Getting Iran back into JCPOA or JCPOA substitute
- Congressional investigation of the Jan.6 Capitol riot -- quite a few hearings, some higher profile than others, but still no "final report"
- Electoral Count Act reform -- supposedly has the support of >10 GOP Senators to get over filibuster, but still hasn't made it out of the Senate
- Legalization of the recreational use of marijuana at the federal level
All in all, a pretty good two years.
CHIPS was about the only legislation or EO that wasn't awful, inflationary, or both.
-
What has (sic) the Democrats done in the last 22 months?
In return for centrists’ and moderates’ support, Biden effectively told us to get lost. He championed the entire far-Left agenda: the biggest expansion in government since LBJ; a massive stimulus that, in a period of supply constraints, fueled durable inflation; a second welfare stimulus was also planned — which would have made inflation even worse; record rates of mass migration, and no end in sight; a policy of almost no legal restrictions on abortion (with public funding as well!); the replacement of biological sex with postmodern “genders”; the imposition of critical race theory in high schools and critical queer theory in kindergarten; an attack on welfare reform; “equity” hiring across the federal government; plans to regulate media “disinformation”; fast-track sex-changes for minors; next-to-no due process in college sex-harassment proceedings; and on and on it went. Even the policy most popular with the centre — the infrastructure bill — was instantly conditioned on an attempt to massively expand the welfare state. What on earth in this agenda was there for anyone in the centre?
It therefore doesn’t surprise me that in his final pitch to voters this week, Biden barely mentioned his record. He didn’t talk about inflation, the looming recession, crime, immigration, Covid. He mentioned nothing that would motivate anyone beyond his own base.
He returned instead to his previous 2020 electoral blackmail: you have no choice but to vote for Democrats because the far Right is so hostile to democracy. To which my answer would be: well, I did that already. And I was treated like an easy mark by the Dems — who pocketed my vote and ignored all of my concerns. Voting for an actual election denier would remain a dealbreaker for me. But otherwise, when Trump is not on the ballot, why would I be suckered by the woke Left again?
Worse than this bait-and-switch is the condescension that came with it. Think of the absolute assertions by the Biden administration and their media flunkies: The border is secure. Covid vaccines prevent infection. There is no CRT in high schools. The lab-leak theory and Hunter Biden’s corruption were disinformation. There is no medical debate about fast-track, affirmation-only, sex changes for minors. Inflation is caused by corporate greed. Women in college always tell the truth; and men always lie. A president can forgive student loans by fiat. Debt doesn’t matter. A woman can have a penis. The people who attack Asian-Americans are all white supremacists. The idea of individual merit is racist. Can you think of any social issue where the Biden administration hasn’t taken the position of the illiberal “social justice” Left?
And culture matters. David Brooks wrote last week: “Over the past few years, the Democrats have made heroic efforts to win back working-class voters and white as well as Black and Hispanic voters who have drifted rightward.”
What planet is he living on? He points to infrastructure spending and the child tax credit. The first was coupled, as I’ve noted, with a big increase in the welfare state, blunting its impact; the second is now gone. Brooks doesn’t mention inflation, crime, immigration, the border, abortion, race and affirmative action. In these areas, which will define the election, the Dems have, in fact, made heroic efforts to affront and insult working-class voters. On abortion post-Roe, they have adopted the most extreme position possible, making even Republicans look like moderates.
And look, we can debate all these questions. There are many nuances. But Biden precisely denies those nuances. He never even gives a hint that he respects his critics at all. He sees his moderate supporters not as people to be persuaded or engaged, let alone listened to, but as bigots or victims of disinformation he can simply dismiss. “C’mon, man!” used to be a verbal tic he deployed to engage with critics; now it’s deployed simply to dismiss them.
-
@LuFins-Dad brought up a good point about Afghanistan. It’s something that Trump wanted to do but completely failed to actually do it. Biden got it done. The tactical execution was flawed, but the strategic decision to get out was the correct one, and Biden got it done.
Compare to 2017-2018 when the GOP last controlled all three of the White House, the House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate.
“Infrastructure week”? Never got done.
Medicare negotiating drug prices? Never got done, much less the “repeal and replace” of ObamaCare.
No immigration reform, and Mexico never paid for the wall that never got built.About the only big thing the GOP managed was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which added $2 Trillion to the deficit.
Going into 2023-2024, what major/coherent public policy initiatives do you see coming out of the GOP even if it takes control of both the House and the Senate? It seems the GOP has no plan other than to take power for the sake of taking power.
@jon-nyc still has to worry about the GOP playing chicken with the debt ceiling and putting the full faith and credit of the entire U.S. government at risk, and @Mik still cannot rule out the GOP going on a quest to impeach Biden for no good reason.
No sign that the GOP can or even want to actually govern at the federal level.
-
@LuFins-Dad brought up a good point about Afghanistan. It’s something that Trump wanted to do but completely failed to actually do it. Biden got it done. The tactical execution was flawed, but the strategic decision to get out was the correct one, and Biden got it done.
Compare to 2017-2018 when the GOP last controlled all three of the White House, the House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate.
“Infrastructure week”? Never got done.
Medicare negotiating drug prices? Never got done, much less the “repeal and replace” of ObamaCare.
No immigration reform, and Mexico never paid for the wall that never got built.About the only big thing the GOP managed was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which added $2 Trillion to the deficit.
Going into 2023-2024, what major/coherent public policy initiatives do you see coming out of the GOP even if it takes control of both the House and the Senate? It seems the GOP has no plan other than to take power for the sake of taking power.
@jon-nyc still has to worry about the GOP playing chicken with the debt ceiling and putting the full faith and credit of the entire U.S. government at risk, and @Mik still cannot rule out the GOP going on a quest to impeach Biden for no good reason.
No sign that the GOP can or even want to actually govern at the federal level.
@Axtremus said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
The tactical execution was flawed
LOL. You misspelled "Failed."
-
@Axtremus said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
The tactical execution was flawed
LOL. You misspelled "Failed."
@George-K said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
@Axtremus said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
The tactical execution was flawed
LOL. You misspelled "Failed."
Nah, Trump failed to get the US out of Afghanistan. Biden’s execution was flawed, but Biden ultimately succeeded in getting the US out of Afghanistan.
-
@George-K said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
@Axtremus said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
The tactical execution was flawed
LOL. You misspelled "Failed."
Nah, Trump failed to get the US out of Afghanistan. Biden’s execution was flawed, but Biden ultimately succeeded in getting the US out of Afghanistan.
-
has the Democrats done
lolz.
-
has the Democrats done
lolz.
@Aqua-Letifer said in What has the Democrats done in the last 22 months?:
has the Democrats done
lolz.
Is our Democrats learning?
-
A Axtremus referenced this topic on
