 In a 69 to 30 vote, nice. The Senate has actually passed its bipartisan infrastructure legislation. Now I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that most of my viewers have already read through all 2,700 pages of this legislation, but for the few of you who haven't yet, don't worry, I've got you covered because here is what is in the bill. This is according to Heather Long of The Washington Post. It includes 110 billion for roads and bridges, 66 billion for rail, 65 billion for power grid and broadband, 55 billion for water including replacing lead pipes, 39 billion for public transit, 25 billion for airports, 21 billion for pollution cleanup, 17 billion for ports and 7.5 billion for electric vehicle charge stations. Now a lot of this sounds great at face value, but I have to wonder if 30 Republicans voted for this, including all of the corporate Democrats and far-right Democrats, there's gotta be something off about this, right? What's the catch? Well, the catch, as Annika Sparina explains, is that the bipartisan infrastructure bill privatizes public infrastructure in section titled asset concessions. When infrastructure is privatized, corporations implement tolls and fees. Bill claims they can't charge tolls on people making $400,000 per year or less, but there's no enforcement mechanism. So there you have it. This is indeed a giveaway to corporate America and not just any ghouls from corporate America, some of the worst ghouls in corporate America who are literally ruining the environment. Because as the Intercepts Aline Brown reported on August 3rd, bipartisan infrastructure bill includes 25 billion in potential new subsidies for fossil fuels. And she explains the Senate's new bipartisan infrastructure bill is being sold as a down payment on addressing the climate crisis, but environmental advocates and academics are warning the proposed spending bill is full of new fossil fuel industry subsidies masked as climate solutions. Yeah, now in spite of the Biden administration's attempt to greenwash this legislation and make it seem as if it's an adequate solution to addressing climate change, progressive lawmakers are not falling for it. So Jamal Bowman said in a statement that the infrastructure bill does not adequately fund measures to address the climate emergency, not even close, he said, though it includes important investments in hard infrastructure like our roads and bridges, it vastly under funds public transit, electric vehicle and grid infrastructure. And he's absolutely correct about that. Now, prior to this bill getting voted on in the Senate, Congressman Ro Khanna tweeted this out. The UN's climate change report confirms that we've already warmed the globe and must act immediately to prevent it from worsening. Global warming is causing heat wave, stronger storms, flooding and droughts. The stakes are clear for the infrastructure bill, no climate, no deal. Now, what he's referring to with that last sentence is the progressive pledge to not vote for any infrastructure bill unless the Senate also takes up a reconciliation package. Now, that package is going to include all of the things that progressives want that was left out of the infrastructure proposal. And Cory Bush hinted at this yesterday as well. Today's IPCC report makes clear what we already know, the bipartisan infrastructure deal fails to address the urgency of the climate crisis. The investments we make through reconciliation must be bold and ambitious and move us closer to a green new deal. Now, in terms of what's in said reconciliation bill that's supposed to be passed alongside the infrastructure proposal, well, it is quite a bit of really, really good things that make voting for the infrastructure bill, in my opinion, worthwhile if they do indeed get all of this. So this is according to Bernie Sanders as reported by Jeff Stein of the Washington Post. It includes major funding for climate change and clean energy initiatives. On top of that, it includes universal pre-K, paid family and medical leave, a Medicare expansion that includes dental, hearing and vision and much, much more. So all of this would be incredible if it actually passes. But it all depends on the Senate's next move because if they don't actually approve this reconciliation proposal, then the House is already stating, and they've said it once, they're saying it again, we're not gonna support this. If you deny us this, all these great things in the reconciliation proposal, we're going to deny you that shiny new infrastructure deal that you just passed that I'm sure you desperately wanna, you know, brag to your constituents about. So as Jake Johnson of Common Dreams explains, in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, three top CPC members led by caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, wrote that their fellow progressive lawmakers were specifically asked whether they would commit to withholding a yes vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal until the Senate has passed budget reconciliation legislation deemed acceptable by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. A majority of our respondents affirmed that they would withhold their votes in support of the bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives until the Senate adopted a robust reconciliation package, reads the letter, which was also signed by representatives Katie Porter and Ilhan Omar. So in essence, progressives in the House are saying, if you don't deliver us that reconciliation package that Bernie Sanders worked really hard on to make as good as it possibly can be, as robust as it possibly can be, you're not gonna get that infrastructure proposal. We're not gonna vote on it. We will withhold our votes. We will torpedo that infrastructure deal that corporate Democrats and Republicans desperately want to use to sell to their constituents as to why they should be reelected. And the House Congressional Progressive Caucus also tweeted about this saying, CPC members won't support a bipartisan bill without a bold reconciliation bill to advance our priorities. And that's really important. So I'm really proud of congressional progressives for standing strong and remaining firm here. That infrastructure bill, it is not worth a vote if they don't get that reconciliation proposal. Now it's tricky because in the Senate, all 50 Democrats have to vote for that reconciliation proposal and then Vice President Kamala Harris will be the tie breaking vote. But if any Democrat withholds their vote from that reconciliation package, it all is torpedoed. If Kirsten Sinema or Joe Manchin choose to not support that reconciliation package that budget chair Bernie Sanders worked on, then everything goes up in flames. And what I would suspect is gonna be an argument is if Joe Manchin or Kirsten Sinema don't support the reconciliation bill and progressives inevitably withhold votes on the infrastructure proposal in the House, well, there's gonna be this effort by the mainstream media and corporate wing of the Democratic Party to blame progressives. But no, the details were agreed upon long in advance. No climate, no deal. So you can take all of the climate related things out of the infrastructure package. So long as we get it in the reconciliation proposal, that's fine, we'll vote for the infrastructure bill. But if we don't get that reconciliation package, you don't get your infrastructure deal. That's what progressives are saying and I'm really glad that they are committed to torpedoing this bill if they don't get what they want because they got screwed out of the negotiating process in favor of allowing corporate Democrats and so-called moderate Republicans to essentially take everything that they wanted to out of the infrastructure proposal. So it's important that progressives torpedo this if they don't get that reconciliation package. So I'll keep you updated on this, but we'll see whether or not everything is gonna work out and we get both the infrastructure deal and the reconciliation package is yet to be seen. But I'm gonna remain cautiously optimistic but kind of leaning more towards pessimism and cynicism than optimism because I don't think that corporate Democrats are going to allow a reconciliation package of that size to go through easily.