OK, So Here's What "Framework" Was

Yesterday, the media was buzzing about "framework.' As of this morning, it's not worth mentioning. I went to all kinds of effort to parse out what it meant, but suddenly this morning, it's a big never mind. Why? In addition, yesterday I was linking to stories from the weekend and early this week that there could be a vote on the BIF "as early as Wednesday", which is today, but this morning, there's not a peep about a vote. I've been suggesting for days that this wasn't going to happen.

Here's the frammis. As of yesterday, I pieced it out that the "framework" was some sort of executive summary or something of the BBB bill -- that is, the theoretical version of the bill acceptable in some reduced form to Sen Manchin --- without the legislative language. In other words, a sorta-kinda temporary placeholder for the actual bill. But why would such a thing be needed? This wasn't really made clear until later yesterday, when details of a meeting among Democrat legislators Monday evening gradually leaked out:

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) on Monday evening signaled she would continue to stall President Joe Biden’s massive spending agenda until her demands are met.

Jayapal told reporters she and her caucus remain as holdouts until both the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package and the $1.2 trillion “bipartisan” infrastructure are voted upon immediately after one another.

So there we are. This was the circumstance last summer, and despite the happy talk over the last two months about "progress" and how they're "this close" to a deal, it looks like nothing has actually changed. The House Progressive Caucus wants the BIF and the BBB voted on together, because they continue to feel they need the leverage of holding the BIF hostage to the BBB. Except the BBB is still up in the air and nowhere near ready for a vote, because nobody knows what will be in and what will be out yet. The story goes on,

Democrat leadership has floated the idea of voting on the “bipartisan” bill with only a framework in place for the reconciliation package. But allowing one measure to pass without a vote on the other would reduce the leverage the far-left has worked to maintain.

As a result, Jayapal flatly said a framework agreement on the reconciliation package would not suffice, demanding instead the reconciliation package be written and voted upon along with the “bipartisan” bill.

The demands to have the reconciliation package written could take weeks longer. Only parts of the package are reported to be written. The legislative text of the package is important to the far-left because it would guarantee certain radical provisions would be included.

So the "framework" is no longer a thing, having lasted as an idea for only a few days until as of Monday night it became clear to the Democrat leadership that there wasn't going to be a vote today, framework or not. So the media has quietly dropped it and gone back to Alec Baldwin.

But as of even yesterday, it was somehow urgent that there be a vote on the BIF "as early as Wednesday". As I'd surmised in scoping out the necessary timeline last week, President Biden leaves tomorrow for his junket to Rome and Scotland, so anything that must be finsished needs to be finished essentially by today. The reasons given are that he needs to have some sort of trophy to take to the global warming conference in Scotland, which he now hasn't got, and he needs some sort of prestige going into next week's elections in Virginia and New Jersey, ditto.

In fact, it appears that those in the know had understood that nothing had changed in the legislative calculations for months. I'd surmised this, but I had no inside sources to confirm it. The question I have is why the journalists who did have such sources never mentioned it. Instead, they allowed a charade to be played out for as long as they could.

Here's another question: much was made of a Sunday breakfast meeting among Sens Manchin and Schumer and President Biden. The assumpton seems to have been that they could potentially hash out a deal, but nothing came of it, other than Manchin's remarks a day later that a framework "should" emerge by the end of the week, except even if it does, it won't make any difference now. But where was Sen Sinema in this meeting? Doesn't she have her own independent issues over the BBB?

Last we heard, she's not necesssrily even returning Biden's calls. I'm not sure why Manchin did show up. That meeting was just for show. Manchin fully understood this and humored Biden for his own reasons. Sinema didn't bother.

I think the media across the board is negligent in reporting how bad the situation is for the administration. Among other things, I think they've completely underplayed what the insiders must know about Pelosi's incompetence and likely her own medical issues. Stein's Law: that which cannot conktinue must stop.