I really wonder if the Democrats intentionally bamboozled the Republicans as they shepherded the American Rescue Plan through the Senate, the one place that the Republicans had a chance to stop it, or if the Republicans own disfunction produced a self-bamboozling. When it was before the Senate there were a few weeks of hand wringing over the income cut off point for the $1,400 one time payment. But Democrats did not mention most of the potpourri of progressive provisions that made up the bulk of the actual bill. It includes substantial support for union pension plans, expanded and altered the child tax credit effectively making it a direct cash payment to support families with children, assistance to restaurants and bars to keep them afloat despite local government shut down orders, assistance to help people pay their rent. et cetera.
We heard about none of these things when the Republicans were trying to defeat the bill, probably because their staff made no effort to read the actual legislation. Hell, Republicans forced the clerk to read the entire bill out loud, but Republican Senators mostly left the chambers and did not bother to listen. As a result, I really think they had no idea how progressive the bill was. They whined about the price tag of the bill, but barely mentioned any of the specifics other than that $1,400 payment. The direct payments are broadly popular. And by talking about one of the most popular provision in the ARP making it seem like that is most of what it was, they guaranteed the bill itself would be really popular and failed to bring up some of the even more progressive bits with criticism that maybe would have resonated better with the public.
Republicans simply do not know how to mount a substantive critique of a bill on policy grounds. No wonder they spend most of the last week complaining about Dr. Seuss.
