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13 Republicans Voted for the Infrastructure Bill—Some Say It Was A ‘Damned-If-You-Do, Damned-If-You-Don’t’ Choice—But There Was Some Good To Be Had

13 Republicans Voted for the Infrastructure Bill—Some Say It Was A ‘Damned-If-You-Do, Damned-If-You-Don’t’ Choice—But There Was Some Good To Be Had

Most members of the GOP House are irate with 13 “turncoat” representatives primarily because they committed the cardinal sin of 21st-century American politics. They helped the other team to what is being billed as a major political win. This from hotair.com.

Likely, Katko can be successfully primaried but he represents a D+2 district. (For the moment. Redistricting is in motion.) Replace him with a MAGA candidate and it’s less likely that that seat stays red.

So, they may get to keep their turncoat RINO who is obviously not red. But what is that? Isn’t a RINO the same damn thing as a democrat?

Further: Any analysis of whether the 13 who voted ‘yes’ committed a mortal or just a venial sin should start with this question:

Was the bipartisan infrastructure bill going to pass no matter what? To which the answer is of course it was.

The only outcomes on the table were the bill passing exclusively with democrat votes or the bill passing in a bipartisan way.
And since it’s popular with voters, there’s a strong case politically to be made that the House GOP should have tried to take partial credit for it, whatever its flaws. That’s not to say that bad but popular bills should always earn bipartisan support when passage is inevitable. But inevitability does factor into the calculus.
As Liam Donovan, a noted advocate, posts:

The votes of The 13 may assist those democrats who are siding with Republicans on other initiatives.

Manchin, for example, has staked his defense of the filibuster on the idea that bipartisanship is still possible.

He was vindicated on that when the roads-and-bridges bill passed the Senate with 19 Republican votes. But if it had gone down in the House due to Republicans voting on a party line, his reasoning would have taken a hit. Instead he’s vindicated again this morning, further aligning him with the GOP.

Donovan’s also right that the bill might have passed last night even if all Republicans had voted no.

Six members of the Squad opposed it; if no Republicans had voted yes those six votes would have been enough to kill it.

That’s why righties are furious with the 13 defectors this morning, because they snatched Democratic victory from the jaws of defeat — supposedly.

But would the Squad have voted no if there were no Republican yes votes to bail them out? At least one member was watching the count closely before casting her “no” vote:

The bill probably would have passed with or without Republican help. All the GOP votes really accomplished for democrats was giving AOC and her pals the opportunity to look ideologically pure by voting ‘no’ instead of having to hold their noses and vote ‘yes.’

And meanwhile, by voting the way they did, they may have strengthened Manchin’s hand in driving a hard bargain on reconciliation. Now that the bill he really cares about has passed, he’s free to dictate his terms to progressives on Build Back Better. One Republican who voted ‘yes’ made that point afterward:

“I weakened their [progressives’] hand. They have no leverage now,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who had shaped a GOP-friendly spin on her vote by the time she exited the chamber: “I voted against AOC and the squad tonight.”

Malliotakis told Axios that progressives will no longer be able to hold the bill hostage and predicted Build Back Better will be “drastically weakened” in the Senate or “die altogether” as a result of the infrastructure bill passing.

At the end of the day, though, you don’t need elaborate strategic reasons to understand why some Republicans defected. Don Bacon, one of the 13 GOP ‘yes’ votes, explained to Axios:

A damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t choice is what Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told Axios he faced, so he said he did what felt right. “You vote one way, maybe it hurts in the primary. You vote the other way… in my district, it’d hurt me in the general.”…

While “certain elements of our party did not like it,” he said, the bill is popular among his constituents, with broad support from farmers, unions and businesses — with internal polls showing two-thirds support or higher in his district.

His constituents liked the bill. That’s not an unimpeachable reason to vote yes on legislation, but in a democracy it’s not a bad one. However, he may be primaried for believing that passing major legislation which his voters support is more important than owning the libs.

As evidenced by this article, “politics is a dirty business and politicians lie.” Those who remain in the fray for only one term or two then move on to cleaner living may be salvageable. But those politicians who make a career of this dirty business are the bane of American society.

President Trump you are missed sir.