Member-only story
Mitch and Manchin
The Ransom of Red Leader.
Do you remember those “Baby on Board” stickers? They’re gone now, but I recall a satiric piece that likened them to ransom notes: “Slow down, or the kid gets it!” Sort of like the guy with a gun to his own head shouting “Stop or I’ll shoot.” I’m reminded of these images whenever our pols threaten to kill a bill they love if they can’t get a bill they want.
Today’s example is the Republican’s threat to block the “chips” bill — which provides important subsidies for American semiconductor manufacturers — unless the Democrats scuttle their reconciliation bill, which they don’t need Republican votes to pass. Everyone is for the re-domestication of the chip industry because, duh, chips are necessary for our national security and our economic health. We cannot rely on our adversaries for them.
Republicans know that the chips bill is a good thing. Sure, there will be waste, abuse, and fraud, so there is doubtless enough in the current bill for opponents to complain about, at least if they were willing to propose something better. But the Republicans don’t want something better. The only thing preventing its passage was the Republicans’ ability to hold it hostage, the ransom being abandonment of the filibuster-proof reconciliation bill. The Republican logic here is simple: If…