The DP is where progressive ideas go to DIE

February 2020: The moderates ganged up and threw their unified support behind Joe Biden to SSS (Successfully Swamp Sanders).

October 2021: The moderates boxed the progressives into a corner and got them to abandon the threat of refusing to vote for BIF if BBB was not passed first.

. . . passed first in order to prevent being whittled down. But it was, in fact, whittled down. Then the progressive caucus folded. They allowed TS (The Squad) to symbolically vote Against while making sure enough of their members voted For, enough that the “For” would carry.

The moderates pledged to ASAP pass the BBB “in its current form” (with progressive Must Haves) but the progressives have no guarantee about it. It could still be whittled down to some extent in the House. Whether or not it is, the even-more-whittled-down Senate version will have to come back to the House later on for a compromise that can eventually pass both chambers.

BBB has gone from Bernie’s 6 to AOC’s 2.5 to Brandon’s 1.75 and might wind up down at Manchin’s 1.5. Even a compromise at 1.7 would, in the end, be another defeat for the progressives.