On Friday, Joe Biden admitted that the $3.5 trillion in social spending he’s been trying so hard to get through Congress won’t happen.
“When I hear people say it costs $3.5 trillion, I’ll be honest with you, we’re probably not going to get $3.5 trillion this year,” Biden said. “We’re gonna get something less than that, but I’m going to negotiate. I’m going to get it done.”
Biden didn’t concede defeat, however. He did not deliver a eulogy for his $3.5 trillion in big government socialism. Instead, he laid down the foundation for saying that passing a much smaller spending plan will be just as good for his Build Back Better agenda.
“I’m convinced we’re going to get it done. We’re not going to get $3.5 trillion,” he said. “We’ll get less than that, but we’re going to get it, and we’re going to come back and get the rest.”
Oh really? When? Next year? Does Biden think that if he couldn’t get the $3.5 trillion this year that he’ll be able to get all that he wants next year when Democrats nationwide will be returning to their districts to run for reelection in a year that history says will be a good one for Republicans when Joe Biden’s poll numbers are in the toilet?
Dream on, buddy.
This was his chance to get it done. All he had to do was convince two members of his own party to go along with it, and he couldn’t do that. Instead, he dismissed the harassment they’ve endured as part of the process. So, despite having majorities in both the House and Senate, he failed.
But even his willingness to push through such a massive spending plan on party lines undermines the very point of who Joe Biden was supposed to be if elected. He didn’t even bother trying to convince Republicans. The same way Barack Obama didn’t bother to have Republicans be a part of the process of health care reform, Joe Biden attempted a massive social spending plan to serve the Democrats’ radical agenda, not the people of the United States.
He wasn’t supposed to be that guy. Biden was the guy who ran for president claiming he was the one who could bring the parties together to compromise and do the business of the people. He failed. He was the one who claimed that Trump was the great divider and that he was the cure. But he hasn’t pretended he wants to work with Republicans, and his failure to convince his own party to go along with the agenda shows that he won’t get anywhere with them anyway because he doesn’t want to accept a middle ground on his agenda. He wants to be as “transformative” as Barack Obama, if not more, which is why even in acknowledging that he won’t get the $3.5 trillion he still suggested he’d manage to get it all eventually.
Make no mistake about it: Legislatively, Joe Biden has likely missed his chance for a massive social spending bill. He’ll try to get stuff snuck into to smaller bills, no doubt, but as we get closer to the midterms, such efforts will be harder to pull off — especially if his poll numbers don’t dramatically improve. But, then he’ll try to emulate Obama in another way: by avoiding Congress altogether.
