Analysis: Why GOP opposition to bill looks like very bad politics
The goal, politically speaking, was simple: To show that, despite President Joe Biden’s pledges of bipartisanship during the 2020 campaign, this massive piece of domestic spending was not in any way the product of both parties coming together.
“Instead of working together to fight COVID-19, Democrats decided to exploit the crisis by jamming through unrelated liberal policies they couldn’t pass honest. A colossal missed opportunity for the American people.”
The American people appear to disagree.
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The conclusion here is simple: This is a popular bill. And that support, with the American public at least, is bipartisan.
(Sidebar: How do you define something as “bipartisan?” If a decent chunk of people in the party out of power support it? Or only if politicians in the party out of power support it?)
“In the new poll, 61% support the $1.9 trillion economic relief bill proposed by Biden and expected to pass in the House Wednesday, and several key provisions of the bill are even more popular. A broad majority of Americans (85%) say they support policies in the bill that would provide larger tax credits for families and make them easier for low-income households to claim, including majorities across party lines (95% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans support it). Around three-quarters favor provisions to provide funding to facilitate a return to the classroom for K-12 students (77%), and sending stimulus checks worth up to $1,400 per person to most families and individuals (76%). Both of those policies also have majority support across party lines (55% of Republicans support each, among Democrats, support tops 90% for each one).”
You get the idea. The vast majority of Americans will benefit in ways small and large from the money approved by Congress in this bill. And — breaking news! — people like getting money. And every single Republican is on the record in opposition to it.
Which, as you might have already figured out, poses a major political problem for GOP elected officials in Washington. A problem that they seem to just be realizing — and inventing creative ways to attempt to wriggle out of.
Witness Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, who, like every other Republican senator, voted against the Covid-19 bill last week.
Er …
Riiiiight.
Republicans are in a political bind. They stand uniformly opposed to a bill that the American people really like. And they clearly have no real reason for their stance other than the unstated one: They weren’t consulted enough and didn’t want to give Biden a big win in his first 50 days in office.
That’s not a politically defensible position. But its the position Republicans find themselves in at the moment.
