It’s easy to see when someone does something that benefits us, but sometimes we neglect to take note of those who tried to stop that good stuff from happening.
That’s glaringly apparent when we look at the U.S. Congress where, for the most part, Democrats promote policies that help people, while Republicans oppose them because they’re counterproductive to their pro-rich, anti-poor-and-middle-class agenda.
President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed the House by a vote of 228-206, but it would’ve died without the help of some Republicans. Six Democrats voted against the bill, but 13 Republicans backed it, allowing the measure to make the 218-vote threshold needed for passage.
Still, 200 Republicans voted against it. The tally for Senate approval was 69-30.
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act passed 220-207 in the House and 51-50 in the Senate (with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote), both times along party lines.
This is where I often like to point out the vote of my congressman/Trump bootlicker Mike Kelly. As expected, he opposed both bills.
The question now is: Will Democrats be able to craft effective messaging on the Republican efforts to styme things that benefit both individuals and their communities? Will GOP cries of “socialism,” “socialist Democrats,” “extremist Democrats,” and whatever else they can think of be seen by enough people as so much Right-wing bullshit.
I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I do know that it never hurts to show the various constituencies the real consequences of their elected officials’ votes.
So, let’s look at just a couple of examples from recent news stories, and remember, if your representative or senator voted no, he was saying that he didn’t want any of this to happen.
Musings of a Nobody 