Snatching Defeat - continued

 The debate on the American Family Plan  is nicely summarized here:

Opinion | Corporate America Is Lobbying for Climate Disaster - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The argument is something like this

- The GOP will win the 2022 election because of voter suppression and just because the party is power always loses mid-term elections.

- Therefore the Dems need to "go big" now.   If the GOP wins the election then Biden can veto all attempts to "un-do" the policies.

Krugman also makes the case to "do something" on climate change even though he knows these policies are inefficient and will have minimal impact on the global climate.   He's correct that a policy that might work - carbon tax, tariff and dividend cannot be passed now.

While Joe Manchin offers an alternative view:

Manchin Jolts Democrats by Urging ‘Pause’ on $3.5 Trillion Bill (msn.com)

The argument is something like this:

- We can win the 2022 election if the party runs on achieving results.  The economy will be strong next year with unemployment around 4% and the stock market at all time highs.  We will not have any of the military in a war zone.   We win as long as we don't get pinned by the GOP as tax and spend liberals whose policies have resulted in higher inflation, higher taxes and higher budget deficits.

- We were not elected with a mandate for massive change.  We were elected to deal with the pandemic but mostly to not be Trump.  Biden simply by returning to norms with respect to language and style, embodies this.

- But if we "go big" we will certainly lose the midterm elections.  Biden will then have to spend the next two years vetoing bills.  We then will lose the 2024 POTUS election.

- On the other hand if we go slow we will win the 2022 elections, expand the majorities in both houses and take advantage of a good economy to then continue to press for progressive policies.

The reaction to Manchin's position was immediate:

The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representative Pramila Jayapal, replied “Absolutely not” on Twitter to Manchin’s idea of a pause.