Biden Has “Bad Set of Players to Navigate & Woo” in Senate for Infrastructure, Says Lawless LIVE

Biden Has “Bad Set of Players to Navigate & Woo” in Senate for Infrastructure, Says Lawless LIVE

University of Virginia Political Science Chair Jennifer Lawless appeared on GoLocal LIVE, where she talked about the stalled infrastructure bill in Congress. 

The New York Times reported Friday that Biden cut off talks with Republicans — and Lawless broken down the playing field. 

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“I don’t know if it behooves the Biden Administration to support a bipartisan deal in the Senate, because if you support a bipartisan bill in the Senate, you get a trillion dollars, which is great, but you don’t get a lot of what you were looking for and you put off a lot of progressives who were willing to go along with things because they thought they were going to get additional benefits in this bill, so it’s tricky,” she said.

“It’s also a situation where the Republicans are not necessarily particularly trustworthy on this — and it’s unclear what an infrastructure deal gets you beyond the infrastructure deal itself,” said Lawless. “So if you don’t like the deal, you can’t assume this is all you’re going to get and you’re happy with it, you have to figure out if it’s worth it. I think the Biden Administration probably thinks at the end of the day it’s worth it — I’m not sure how Republican members of Congress feel about that.”

Lawless spoke to Biden’s difficulties in moving what was supposed to be the President’s number one priority coming into office. 

“Mitch McConnell has made it clear since 2009 that he’s not interested in helping any Democratic administration put up any win. So even if it means McConnell getting some of what he wants and Republican states and Republican districts benefiting from being able to fix crumbling roads and bridges, McConnell doesn’t care,” said Lawless. “We’re so polarized, and so partisan in the Senate right now, that a lot of Republicans who would support this bill if it was a Republican president don’t care either.” 

“And when you have people like Joe Manchin in your party, you have to win him over before even thinking about the Republicans,” she said of the Democratic Senator from West Virginia — who often leans Republican. “And he for whatever reason has become completely intractable when it comes to working with the Democrats. He’s basically become the spokesperson for ten potential Republicans who could flip — it’s a confluence of a bad set of players for the Biden Administration to have to navigate and woo.”