October 4, 2021

Sunday School 10/3/21: Extra Credit

In yesterday's Sunday School, we heard from a couple of progressives. Today, for your Extra Credit, we've got Sen. John Barrasso (R-Why), who chatted with Chris Wallace in the Fox News Sunday classroom.

Barrasso said that "what we're seeing is like watching an episode of the twilight zone," and he said that President Biden "surrendered to the radical wing of his party" instead of getting bipartisan agreement on his Build Back Better plan. 

And now you have this big government-socialism-reckless spending bill being basically used to hold hostage the thing that the American people want... 

He noted that the 'traditional infrastructure' bill passed the Senate with 19 Republican votes, and that "in any kind of a normal world, that would've been signed into law by the president" months ago when it passed. Biden is "weak" and the folks like the two who were highlighted in yesterday's post "are driving the bus and Joe Biden is just along for the ride."

Wallace noted that Barrasso wasn't one of the 19 Rs who voted for the stuff that Americans want, and not only that, he and "all of the Republicans are refusing the normal course, bipartisan passage of raising the debt limit." Considering that, Wallace asked whether Barrasso and the rest of them were "viewing these issues on the merits or are you just playing partisan politics?" 

In his defense, the senator said he "had some concerns with some of the gimmicks that were used to fund it" and that it spent too much money, among other things. But on the current $3.5T human infrastructure bill, the Rs are united.

We're a party at that wants to grow the economy. The Democrats are a party that wants to grow the government. And you heard it right there, they're continuing to try to mislead the public by saying it is free. It is not free. They said, oh, inflation -- Cedric said, oh, inflation will go down. Inflation -- people are feeling the bite of inflation right now when they buy groceries, when they buy gas, all of those things. And they think if this stuff passes, this massive spending and tax bill, that inflation is going to get much worse. 

Wallace pressed him on things like the child tax credit, noting that Barrasso voted to double the child tax credit, which was part of the Trump tax plan. Dems want to expand that further, and noted that "Wyoming is one of the states that benefits most from the increase in the child tax credit." Why would he oppose the change? 

Barrasso muttered and sputtered about "a $3.5T massive bill," and Wallace pointed out he's talking about something specific that would benefit Barrasso's constituents. Well, because "it's part of the bigger bill" and all. Plus, the Dems are trying to talk with the Rs about these things.

I mean Bernie Sanders, the other day, said 48 people ought to be able to overrule two, but there are actually 100 members of the Senate. It's 52 against a number of things that the Democrats are proposing here. And the content of this bill matters almost as much if not more than the cost. I've gotten more letters in the last two weeks on one component of this, which is the issue of giving a whole new army of IRS agents to rifle through your checking account, to look at any check that you either deposit or write for over $600. This is an invasion of privacy. Every senator's is hearing about this. That's included as well. So, when you take a look at the entire bill, which is why, you know, Joe Manchin said, it's time for a strategic pause. Well, it looks like there may be a long pause on both the real infrastructure bill and this big spending blowout bill.

OK - Wallace gave him the chance to talk about what he doesn't like, but then he asked Barrasso about universal pre-K, and noted that "less than a quarter" of the kids who'd be covered in the Dem plan are enrolled in pre-school. Again, the question was, wouldn't this help a lot of his constituents?

Again, Barrasso ignored the point. 

There are a number of things that will help the people of Wyoming. Overall, Joe Biden's policies have been hurting the people of Wyoming. And I believe that there should be (means) tested. You just don't give things universally to everybody. I think there should be work requirements involved. The Democrats are trying to separate work requirements from just free government checks and programs. You heard the congressman from the Progressive Caucus say, everybody ought to get free community college, everybody ought to get free daycare, Pre-K, all of those things, and that's not the way that our country has been founded and how we work together. 

Notably, he didn't say that he's reached out to any of the Dems to say, "hey, let's work on getting some means testing in here, so we don't give handouts to people who don't deserve them." And that leads me to believe that it's more important for the Rs to be united against stuff they'd actually support, stuff that would help their constituents, than it is to try and do things "the way that our country has bene founded and how we work together." But maybe that's just me. 

Last question? Are the Rs "thoroughly enjoying" the Dems and their infighting? Such a disappointing question, after all the work Wallace did to try and get Barrasso to act like an adult.

Well, I'll tell you, you know, the thing is, Joe Biden ran as a centrist and as competent. And what we're seeing is that he is neither. And people across the country are feeling less safe with Joe Biden as president. Their paychecks are less safe because of the inflation. When you look at hundreds of thousands of people illegally coming to the country every month, they feel less safe. When the generals testify, as they did, that we are less safe to terrorism, Joe Biden has now walked the plank for the socialist Bernie Sanders budget. He's man overboard and he cannot swim. He is sinking and he's sunk. 

You'll earn your extra credit if you can convince me there's a single R who will break ranks and try to get something accomplished on behalf of their constituents.

See you around campus. 

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