"We never had an inkling that there would be any kind of linkage," said Sen. Susan Collins in response to President Biden's "misstatement" on Thursday afternoon that he'd not sign a bipartisan infrastructure bill in the absence of an on-his-desk reconciliation bill on climate and social programs. "We always knew that there’d be another bill," added Collins, "but not that the success of the infrastructure package was going to be in any way dependent on the other bill."
The senator from Maine — and every other shocked Republican senator — was either undergoing yet another episode of political befuddlement, or she hadn't been paying attention. For Biden's misstatement was in reality not a misstatement at all, as evidenced by the Senate majority leader and House speaker's earlier statements in the same vein. Collins' unknown "linkage" was everywhere.
Chuck Schumer, Thursday morning: "These two efforts are tied together. Let me make that clear…. All parties understand that we won’t get enough votes to pass either unless we have enough votes to pass both." Nancy Pelosi, also Thursday: "We will not take up a bill in the House until the Senate passes the bipartisan bill and a reconciliation bill."
Nevertheless, Biden's comment alone "was enough to upend [his] proud bipartisan moment," reported the Times. Although "the drama does not appear to have sunk the deal," nowhere in the NYT article is there mention of the number of Senate Republicans still willing to pass the filibuster threshold.
We are not surprised. Five'll get you ten this is nothing but that old Republican scam: to substantially whittle down a Democratic package in negotiations while promising support in the end, only to double-cross Democrats at the eleventh hour.
If so, then both bills will fall to Sen. Manchin — as does everything else.