spudone wrote:
He's correct that this and a lot of other items in the covid-19 economic relief bill had nothing to do with problems related to the coronavirus.
I'm appalled that I agree with Lindsay Graham on anything.
True. But I understand the game theory. All that stuff is in there because there's no way it passes the filibuster hurdle if it's not in the budget reconciliation bill. Biden-Pelosi-Schumer have basically three options:
1) Basically pass nothing except a basic Federal budget and maybe dramatically pared-down COVID-19 bill.
2) Go nuclear and get rid of the filibuster
3) Take the middle ground and use reconciliation to pass the COVID-19 and a bunch of other things in one shot. But all the extra stuff has to be budget-related, as determined by the Senate parliamentarian who famously shot down the inclusion of a Federal minimum wage addition.
They took the middle ground.
Lindsay is right. But I also don't have the slightest doubt that if Trump had won and the Senate was still split 50/50, the GOP would absolutely be using reconciliation to pass a GOP wish list.