There's some surprisingly good stuff in Congress's end-of-year bills that hasn't gotten much attention because it doesn't really fit anyone's narrative
One is the ban on anonymous shell companies @cjcmichel discusses in this great thread and calls "the most sweeping counter-kleptocracy reforms in decades—potentially ever"
The coronabus package also contained "the most substantial energy legislation passed in the US in over a decade" per @drvolts who discusses its provisions, including major restrictions on HFCs, here volts.wtf/p/congress-mig…
And of course there's the ban on surprise medical bills as @sarahkliff discusses.
However strange the process may have been, it certainly cuts against the narrative of Congress being dysfunctional, paralyzed by partisanship, and unable to act. All of this is major policy change that required bipartisan agreement
Now, that bipartisan sign-off of course also means that some these policies might not go as far as progressives want or are paired with stuff they may not love (as @drvolts discusses with regards to the energy material). But it certainly contains stuff they have reason to love
Overall it increasingly seems that we have two separate spheres of politics, one that's about partisan combat and stunts (and gets all the attention), and another focusing on actual governance, taking place behind the scenes (in this case to good effect, but sometimes for ill)
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I do think this is relevant to the discussion @perrybaconjr and @whstancil recently had about the divide between older, cautious Democratic leaders and the (relatively) younger generation more open to partisan confrontation bluegrassbeat.substack.com/p/how-cities-m…
.@whstancil cites the brutal 1968-88 period for Dems (presidentially) as shaping this thinking. But for Congress you don't have to go back that far.
Dems lost the House in 1994, couldn't get it back for 12 years. They lost it again 4 years later, couldn't get it back for 8 years
To me the generous interpretation is that Pelosi believes she knows, from hard-won experience, that Democratic majorities are very fragile — and that, if you lose them, it could take a very long time to get them back.
The context here was amidst the push for Clinton's health reform plan. Pelosi wanted to push the bill to the left. Instead no agreement could be reached and nothing passed. Democrats lost both houses of Congress in historic wipeout later that year
They hold 3 seats in Trump '16-'20 states (Manchin, Tester, Brown). Rs hold 1 seat that voted D in both years (Collins).
Also, there are 10 seats in Trump '16-Biden '20 states. Ds hold 6, Rs 2, other 2 are TBD in Georgia.
In 2016 Trump won 30 states despite losing the popular vote by 2. That has terrifying Senate implications for Ds (if Rs won both seats in all those states, they'd have 60 seats!).
But 2018 saw wins from Manchin, Tester, Brown, Sinema, Casey, Baldwin, Stabenow in Trump '16 states
Re: the map — presidential results:
2012: D+3.9 popular vote, Ds win 26 states
2016: D+2.1 popular vote, Rs win 30 states
2020: D+4.4 popular vote, Ds win 25 states
Book recommendation thread! Some I read for the first time this year and really enjoyed…
First off, Brenda Wineapple’s THE IMPEACHERS was a fascinating close look at Andrew Johnson's impeachment. Rich with detail and a bona fide page-turner.
THE COWSHED by Ji Xianlin and CHINA UNDER MAO by Andrew Walder. Micro and macro looks at the Cultural Revolution. Get past facile analogies, learn about the reality. (First is a vivid personal tale, second is an academic accounting)
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X and Audre Lorde’s ZAMI: A NEW SPELLING OF MY NAME both use autobiography to make deeply compelling critiques of society. They also don’t shy away from the complications real life holds for ideology.
2.) After Tony Bobulinski went public, FBI agents interviewed him right away (rather than waiting till after the election). Naturally, news of the interview immediately went public.
Maybe a defensible call, but at least raises an eyebrow
Overall this at least complicates the "Barr successfully kept it all secret" narrative, even though neither late October story got much play in mainstream outlets