“This is a fairly popular account that has been well researched because it was sold as a Covid clearing account with direct cash payments to Americans – what do you not want?” he added. ‘However, that is not what the bill is about. This is a big problem because 2022 has already started and you do not see the fight here. ”
Bannon is not alone in his lament. Elsewhere in conservative circles, a sense of missed opportunity has taken hold in the wake of the adoption of the Covid enlightenment bill last week. Republicans were never expected to support the measure and unanimously opposed it when the time came for a vote. But in interviews with top GOP officials, Trump confidants and congressional assistants, there was a general refrain that the party could do more to introduce it to the public. Instead, periodic claims that the bill was inflated with progressive additions and bailouts for blue states are overshadowed by a relentless focus on the cultural wars of the day.
“If there’s anything that pop culture has to do with canceling all of this culture right now, it’s a catnip for the base, and the media and Republicans are going to talk about it,” said GOP strategist Doug Heye.
Prior to the adoption of the stimulus bill, Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, criticized the legislation as a “boondoggle” and Democratic “grab bag.” But by all accounts, the RNC has only issued two statements on the bill, both after it had already passed. In this gap, others were left to try to figure out how to attack a law with an approval rate of 75 percent.
“I think this is a missed opportunity and the GOP needs to improve its communication campaign quite dramatically,” said Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House. He had to hire his production team to investigate the bill for political vulnerability.
The Republican Party’s obstacles around the adoption of the Covid enlightenment bill were to some extent a microcosm of the difficulties he had in finding his position in the post-Trump era. Some Republicans have indeed said that their party has been hampered in the fight against the emergency relief bill by the fact that so recently they have supported bills that rely on deficit spending and have encouraged similar provisions such as direct payments.
“Republicans lost credibility on the issue during the Trump years, especially the first few years when we had the power to do something about it,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican consultant and former campaign manager for John Senyn, Texas senator. , said. “There was no interest in doing anything about it. It was just ‘let’s not even talk about spending or debt or deficit or anything like that.’ ‘
One Senate IDP assistant noted that members held press conferences to push back the bill, but that the ability to uphold and prosecute an argument by the press was not there, in part because of former President Donald Trump .
“We tried the early part of the year with the uprising and accusation and after that we jumped right in,” the assistant said. “The attention of the DC media, therefore, was not on this legislation, but on the fall of January 6.”
In the absence of a coherent strategy from the GOP leaders of Congress or the party apparatus, individual Republicans such as Gingrich and GOP-aligned outside groups were left to launch their own attacks against Biden’s US rescue plan. Some criticisms have focused on pet projects in the legislation. Others have accused Democrats of using the shadow of a pandemic to expand the welfare state.
“This bill was so extreme and so little about it was actually Covid relief,” said Tim Phillips, president of the United States for Prosperity, who accused Democrats of having the latest legislative response to the Covid-19 crisis. utilized “to promote biased priorities. at the expense of everyday Americans. ”
But other criticisms of the bill have caused headaches. Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) compares the bill’s $ 5 billion fund for black farmers to ‘compensation’. And after Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) Complained to Democrats for opposing an amendment that would have prevented inmates from receiving relief relief, critics quickly pointed out that he voted for the second relief package last December, despite knowing that it contains no provision. to prevent prisoners from receiving such payments.
None of the attacks seem to resonate with voters, who have already started stimulation checks last weekend and who overwhelmingly support the law. A CBS-YouGov poll released Sunday showed that 71 percent of adults believe the U.S. bailout plan will benefit the middle class more than affluent Americans. That portion of the bill coincides with an increase in vaccinations and recognition by Democrats and affiliated teachers’ unions that schools should reopen soon – which together have the potential to improve the Democratic election landscape as they try to clear both chambers of Congress retain.
The GOP still has little left to do, but the possibility that over time voters will simply forget the ways in which the law affects them.
“I think once the sugar level of the stimulus checks has expired – as much as is necessary and important – the bill will go down over time if it is remembered at all,” said another Senate IDP assistant. said. “It is now at the peak of its popularity and the more it becomes unpopular, we will beat them,” another added.
Within the White House, the absence of a sustained GOP setback on the bill was not a particular shock.
Aides has long felt that Biden has the upper hand and that Trump has bound his own party in political knots. The former president called on Congress in December to pass $ 2,000 direct checks, and Republican leaders, such as then-Senate leader Mitch McConnell, exploded when they refused to include them in an emergency relief package. He also added trillions of dollars to the deficit through a mix of tax cuts in the affluent and Covid-related legislation with little setback from his party. What credible argument could Republicans try to make that would resonate with Americans and enough Democrats to block the package, Biden’s assistants wondered.
John Anzalone, who has worked as the lead vote for the Biden campaign and is still a close adviser from outside, said the Republican response is too late and headaches. The IDP did not push back the bill as a deficit constraint. Instead, they present it as Covid, who according to Biden’s team were only alienated voters who linked the virus directly to their economic problems and that elements of the bill – such as tax credits on childcare and the reduction of healthcare costs – were critical is to get past the pandemic.
“It’s really amazing,” Anzalone said. ‘In a time when we’re going through three or four crises at the same time, they basically only had one point. They were completely beaten. ‘
Although the White House was pleased with the lack of sustained backlash from Republicans, there were still questions about how to deal with it. For many, Biden’s promise to be a unifying president meant they had to at least show that they were trying to win GOP votes. And early on there was the belief that they could get a handful.
Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.), An ally of Biden, said he was encouraged when the president sat down with ten Republicans in the Oval Office in late February. However, his optimism faded when GOP officials, led by Maine Senator Susan Collins, had a $ 600 billion alternative. He believed that the White House would inevitably have to use reconciliation, a budgetary mechanism that would allow a speedy adoption of a bill.
“But I thought what would happen once we were on the road is that you would eventually get maybe two, three or four Republicans for the final vote,” Casey added. “I was not shocked, but I was surprised that it was unanimous.”
Republicans use the faintness of Biden’s outreach to condemn that he has denied his promise to seek a middle ground. But within the IDP, there were concerns that process arguments did not move the needle. A third Senate Assistant to the Senate argued that the lines of attack surrounding the absence of dual outreach are overwhelming for most Americans.
“We knocked over this,” the assistant said in a straightforward assessment of their party’s response.
While Republicans have complained about the biased nature of the construction of the law, the White House has decided on a new point of discussion: Although the bill may not have the support of the GOP in Washington, they argued, it was still ‘twofold’ because it was supported by a growing list of Republican governors and state and local officials who insisted.
At the front, they benefited from the polls, which showed sound GOP support for the measure, and by local Republicans who in many cases embraced the cash that would eventually flow to their cities and states. Casey said he was calling a two-party group of land commissioners on Friday. “I did not hear any of them say ‘Hey, we do not need the money,'” Casey said. “I have not heard anything from the (national) Republican arguments.”
Jeff Williams, the mayor of Arlington, Texas, has questioned Republican criticism that local government money is in fact a lifeline for liberal cities like San Francisco, and says the bill is based on an established and agreed-upon formula that the federal government has for decades. long used.
Williams, a registered Republican, also likened the pandemic to a natural disaster, but instead of leveling homes and physically eroding businesses, it claimed the local areas in economic terms.
“We did not say it was a lifeline for Houston when they suffered the flood here,” Williams continued. ‘Same thing for New Orleans when they were flooded in Hurricane Katrina. We did not say we were saving New Orleans. Actually, this is what we do, to take care of a natural disaster and to help our cities, provinces and states come back. ‘
As the enlightenment bill has been close for the past few weeks, Republicans have repeated their messages again, this time to the southern border, where a spate of migrants and unaccompanied children has overwhelmed facilities and created a new political vulnerability for Biden. . But the attacks are not meant to damage the bill, but to move it out of the political spotlight.
“They did not think ‘well, we’re going to be rescued by the border’ a month ago, ‘when Republicans voted against the package, Anzalone said. “It in no way frees them from basic bias and politicians in a time of economic hardship.”
As GOP leaders try to bolster their call for enhanced border security with visits to the border, Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other top officials are touring the country to sell the Covid bill. The Republican Party plans to push back quickly, but so far there is little evidence that support for the legislation will diminish. And Democrats note that while previous bills – such as the Affordable Care Act – have delayed benefits, the cash payments in Biden’s package are immediate.
They do not sweat politics and honestly never have.
‘Comparing the course of this bill with past bills is like comparing apples to lasagna. These are not the same contours. This is not the same situation, “said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic operator. “Republicans know this, and so they go from messages about being a liberal wish list, to messages about guilt and messages about not being dual, to messages about ‘The Cat in the Hat.’ jumped. “