Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell attend a ceremony at the Capitol, June 8, 2022.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has a problem: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is holding a semiconductor bill hostage. In a recent tweet, he laid out his demand: “Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill.” This refers to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a bill to boost domestic manufacturing and investment. (It actually already passed the Senate, but is now in conference with the House version, so will require one more Senate vote to proceed to President Biden’s desk.) The reconciliation bill, of course, is what remains of Biden’s Build Back Better package, which is currently in legislative limbo, amid negotiations between Schumer and Emperor of the Legislative Process Joe Manchin (D-WV).
As a result of the delay in USICA, Intel has delayed a groundbreaking ceremony for its planned semiconductor plant in Ohio, citing the uncertainty about federal funding for chip production.
The standoff raises a question of political tactics. McConnell says that he’ll block the semiconductor bill so long as Democrats are even talking about a reconciliation package. If Democrats had an ounce of Machiavellian cunning, then the immediate solution would be obvious: Announce that reconciliation is dead, pass the semiconductor bill, and then turn a quick about-face and pass the reconciliation bill. In other words, lie. It’s not like this would be the first instance of dishonesty in American politics—indeed, it’s almost certainly what McConnell himself would do in their shoes, without so much as blinking.
Unfortunately, there is little sign that Senate Democrats are capable of or interested in this kind of maneuvering. If they were, at a minimum they would have sorted out the reconciliation bill back in June of 2021 instead of burning up more than half of a precious congressional trifecta dithering over it. Now they have just a few more weeks of legislative floor time left before the midterms race starts in earnest, which will put a stop to negotiations. Worse, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) recently fell and broke his hip, and it’s unclear when he might be able to vote again. (Unlike the House, senators can’t vote by proxy, because of reasons.) Democrats would need all 50 of their members to vote for a reconciliation package.
The sheer wasted opportunities here are maddening. Any sane political party would have ended the Senate filibuster (which makes most non-reconciliation bills require 60 votes to pass) on the first day of the congressional session, and then passed the reconciliation package through majority vote, like every other legislature on the planet. But Democrats didn’t do that—and here it’s not just their two worst senators that are the problem. As of January of this year, just 21 Senate Democrats supported scrapping the rule entirely, and senators like Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Jon Tester (D-MT) were distinctly wishy-washy on the question.
That said, there appears to a developing consensus that there should at least be a filibuster carve-out for voting rights and codifying Roe v. Wade—with just Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) refusing to go along. It’s a perfect campaign message, should they want it: Give us two more senators, for instance from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and we will protect the right to privacy and the franchise.
