Hi — I wanted to share this editorial in yesterday's Star-Ledger on all that went into passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill out of the House last week (the negotiations with Republicans, White House, and leadership — not to mention all of the Red Bulls). This once-in-a-century bill is a game-changer for hard-working families and small businesses in NJ and nationwide. It will help fix our roads, bridges, transit, rail, and water, invest in electric vehicles and broadband, and build the Gateway Tunnel. Here is a link and I pasted it below.
I'm always eager to hear your thoughts, and thanks again for everything!
Yours,
Josh
[link removed]
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Gottheimer’s big score on infrastructure | Moran
By Tom Moran | Star-Ledger Editorial Board
Last Friday, hours before the vote on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, Rep. Josh Gottheimer was on the phone with a senior White House attorney frantically working on a statement intended to convince progressives to climb aboard.
The progressives wanted assurance that moderates like Gottheimer would stick with them after the vote, and support the larger bill known as Build Back Better.
Suddenly, Gottheimer heard the voice of President Biden, asking for the phone.
“He took the phone and said, ‘Josh, I have an idea,’” Gottheimer says. “He suggested an edit, and it was a very good one.”
In the end, the letter promised moderate support of Build Back Better, with a few caveats, and it worked. Biden’s suggestion was to commit to a date for a final vote, during the week Nov. 15, a short timetable. That fortified the message.
“I haven’t slept in three months,” Gottheimer says. “I was talking to (Speaker Nancy) Pelosi constantly. I was talking to Republicans. And Pramila and I have been talking for months.”
That’s Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the head of the Progressive Caucus, the woman who finally gave up the fight to link the two bills and agreed to last week’s vote on the infrastructure bill alone.
This bill is a historic achievement, the biggest investment in infrastructure since the Eisenhower era. It will send $12 billion to New Jersey to repair roads and bridges, remove lead pipes, build charging stations for electric cars, and support NJ Transit. On top of that, it will finance the Gateway tunnel under the Hudson River and allow Amtrak to double its capacity in the years ahead, a huge climate win.
Gottheimer, an overcaffeinated workaholic, won election in 2016, breaking the long Republican hold on the 5th district, and dethroning Rep. Scott Garrett, the most conservative member of Congress from New Jersey in at least a generation, a guy who voted against disaster aid after Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005 because some of the money might be wasted.
Gottheimer is a centrist of the Bill Clinton model, and is co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, which by rule has equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. He sides with progressives on most issues, but parts company on tax hikes, which he opposes, and says he’s more comfortable with the latest version of the Build Back Better, which is half the size of the original. In his district, which backed President Trump in 2016, moving farther left could end his career in a flash.
All this means he was in a perfect position to play a key role in helping build the bridges across party lines that made the infrastructure bill possible. Gottheimer was in this fight from the start, back in April, when the initial contours of a bipartisan proposal were hammered out during marathon meetings at the Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s mansion attended by leaders of both parties, including at least four governors, Sens. Joe Manchin, Mitt Romney, and Mark Warner, along with Reps. Conor Lamb and Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Problem Solvers. Their plan came to $1.2 billion, and while the contents changed, it showed that a bill that size could win broad support. The final bill won 19 Republican votes in the Senate, and 13 in the House.
“If not for Josh’s efforts to get at least some Republicans to support our framework, the bill would never have been born,” says Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-7th, also a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus.
Biden offered the same praise during his Oct. 25 visit to New Jersey: “Josh Gottheimer has been the best go-between I’ve had trying to get all this done, whether it’s the Build Back Better portion or the infrastructure portion.”
This is heady stuff for a third-term Congressman. The downside is that by planting his flag in the bipartisan middle like this, he has earned the wrath of hard-core progressives. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her Squad voted “no” on the bill, and at one point demonstrators protested in Gottheimer’s driveway. A progressive challenge in next year’s primary is likely.
“It’s incredibly frustrating to have him say he supports these bills, and then obstruct passage of the Build Back Better bill by throwing up roadblocks,” says Arati Kreibich, a Glen Rock council member who challenged Gottheimer in the 2020 primary. She lost badly, but won’t rule out another run.
Rep. Donald Norcross, a member of the Progressive Caucus, worked with Gottheimer on that statement, helping him refine it. I asked Norcross to describe how progressives feel about Gottheimer and he answered tactfully: “We have 90-plus members. Some like him and some have a different opinion.”
Gottheimer says it’s a myth that he opposes the larger Build Back Better bill. He says he’ll vote “no” only if it includes no relief from the SALT cap, which limits federal deductions for state and local taxes to $10,000, or if the White House budget numbers on the bill are found by the Congressional Budget Office to be way off.
The progressive beef with Gottheimer is that he pressed for an early vote on the infrastructure bill, after the Senate passed its version in August. Progressives wanted to link the two bills, arguing that it would pressure those who supported the infrastructure bill, like Manchin, to swallow their reluctance and vote for the more ambitious Build Back Better bill.
Gottheimer at first, went overboard, gathering nine moderates to sign a letter to Pelosi vowing to vote against the Build Back Better bill unless the infrastructure bill was voted on right away. Pelosi promised a Sept. 27 vote, but she broke the promise after it became clear she didn’t have the votes. Gottheimer and his crew, as Pelosi may have seen, were bluffing. They later climbed off that limb and helped Pelosi gather the needed votes.
The progressive strategy never made sense to me, or to other Democratic members from New Jersey I talked to. All factions of Democrats support this infrastructure bill, so why would the pressure force a retreat by the two Democratic holdouts on Build Back Better -- Manchin, and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema?
As it turned out, progressives did force a delay in the infrastructure vote by more than two months. Did anyone notice Manchin and Sinema cracking under the pressure? Did this long delay really give Biden more leverage in his efforts to bring them aboard?
“I actually think the opposite is true,” says Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th. “If we had passed the infrastructure bill earlier, this time could have been used to negotiate on the (Build Back Better) bill.”
And remember, during this delay Biden’s popularity plummeted, in part because of the perceived chaos. Since the start of August, his average approval rating has dropped from 51 percent to 42 percent, making it less costly for Manchin and Sinema to defy him.
The Build Back Better Bill is historic. It would cut drug prices, turbo-charge the climate fight, deeply cut child poverty, make day-care affordable to all, provide universal preschool, and there’s more. When progressives say it’s the more important bill, the transformative one, I couldn’t agree more.
But the political tactics are a separate question. Gottheimer gets that and I’m not sure the Squad does. They rejected a bill that would provide help their urban districts need desperately, choosing to take their bat and ball and go home in a huff. Gottheimer, like the rest of New Jersey’s delegation, focused on getting stuff done. And that is the art of politics.
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Josh Gottheimer for Congress
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Ridgewood NJ 07451 United States
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