I recently saw that congress has proposed a new bipartisan bill surrounding concerns about tic toc. It seems like dems and reps have really been struggling to get along recently so I was surprised both sides were in agreement on it. Im curious, what are some hallmarks of bipartisan bills? What makes these topics different from the ones they disagree on?
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Outside foreign threats are usually bipartisan, such as tik tok being a propoganda tool of the ccp.
A threat or common enemy. Fear.
I have a slightly tin foil hat theory for why the TikTok ban is bipartisan. Google and Facebook fund both parties to some extent and TikTok is their bigger threat/competitor. The “but our data privacy” is just the easiest thing to go after them on.
It is either money or Google and Facebook said “yeah we will play ball with some regulations if you go after TikTok”.
A common enemy for sure. Otherwise one that is not sponsored by a member who is on the far side of their respective party, but even then it will not be anything approaching unanimous.
Usually things that benefit either corporations or the military industrial complex.
In terms of TikTok, it’s probably jingoistic attitudes toward China, and the fact that American companies are benefitting on the data collected by this particular app.
Both sides are near unanimous in their support for more war. Doesn’t really matter where or why, just as long as there is one.
It has to be something that doesn’t require a different way to see the world. “China shouldn’t be able to spy on Americans so easily” isn’t something that requires different philosophies on the world.
There’s a reason local politics is way more bipartisan than national politics, and it’s because it often involves more logistics than philosophy. “Fix the fucking potholes,” “parks are nice,” and “I sure would like more jobs in this city” don’t really depend on different worldviews.
In contrast “what should the US military’s role in the world be” or “should the government provide a universal safety net” are a lot more philosophical and less logistical, and require you to decide how you think the world should be.
Most of the bills that involve international economic warfare and for the most part a lot of the Republican agenda gets 80% dems on board
Enough pork to satisfy both sides donors is the key.
They’re banning TikTok because they don’t like it. All the China stuff is just a front.
External threats are usually bipartisan. Reddit always makes me laugh how much it’s repeated that if 9/11 happened today the democrats and republicans wouldn’t work together. When a foreign threat happens you will see just how united we actually are.
At the national level, they are either toothless frivolities that mean nothing, or seminal ironclad bastions of legislation that arguably are long overdue by the time they pass.
There is no in betwen.
Defense spending
Enough pork spread around to feed all the little piggies at the table. And yes the implicit cannibalism in that metaphor is 100% intentional.
Historically, the farm bill has generally been a bipartisan bill. A lot of money goes to subsidize farmers (very popular in rural America) and a lot goes to food assistance (popular among urban politicians even though a higher share of rural residents use food assistance programs).
the only way anything gains bipartisan support is if it makes both sides look good, gain more power/influence or line their own pockets
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/02/shadow-congress-bipartisan-deals/622871/
The December Omnibus Bill’s Little Secret: It Was Also a Giant Health Bill https://nyti.ms/3kAEZyK
A few people have identified the phenomenon of “Secret Congress” or “Shadow Congress”, which is the pattern of bipartisan achievement and legislation mainly happening when bills are hidden in the budget or defense authorization or farm bill or something and receive little to no media coverage or public attention .Basically, whenever the public gets involved, the political incentives to retreat to ones side are so strong that compromise becomes basically impossible. It’s a weird dynamic and IMO bad way to run a country but important to know about if you want to know what Congress is actually doing.
Congress actually passes bipartisan stuff all the time, it’s just that it’s stuff that’s uncontroversial and thus boring for the media to cover. “Congress passes technical fix to law that you’ve never heard of that requires 5 minute explanation of how it impacts your life” doesn’t do well on Twitter
When the opposing position has no lobby or said lobby bribes everyone
The Senate actually passes a lot of stuff through unanimous consent, so not only is it bipartisan, but EVERYONE actually agrees to let it pass without a fuss. Usually it’s non-controversial small stakes stuff so these bills don’t get a ton of attention.
You hear a lot more about the bomb throwers in congress than you do the people actually moving things.
Pork for either party.
Usually if a bill is bipartisan you never hear about it in the media. Conflict sells and congress unanimously voting on something doesn’t get as many eyeballs. These things tend to be things like naming things, procedural votes or votes on non-controversial topics like disaster relief (although guys like Ted Cruz will sometimes hold these up).
The Tic Toc stuff is an exception since half the country uses it.
One way to do it is called pork barrel spending. This is when there are riders (additions) to the bill that have nothing to do with it just to get people to vote.
Say someone wants to pass a bill to make weed legal or something and you need 1 more vote. You ask what they want and they want a bridge or something. So you can add a rider so now the bill legalized weed and gets a bridge built in some place
Anything that benefits the wealthy and corporations
Increasing their own wages
Its a foreign threat. Also angry old people often force them to get along. Hence social security and medicare are relatively bi partisan issues.
Not voting yes on it would make you seem like a shitty person and there’s no partisan content hidden inside the bill
For example: ADA
If it fucks over the average workin American and helps their cronies in wall street or the defense industry, it’ll have bipartisan support. Or if it’s something that if they don’t pass they will lose reelection.
“The word bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.” -George Carlin
No one talks about it in the media
Usually everyone gets something they want. It’s good when the both want the same thing.
Most things involving foreign affairs are bipartisan. We recently signed a bill for closer co-operation with ASEAN that had most members of both parties in support(though 33 Republicans voted no), and there’s often alot of bipartisan work on the smaller bills, the ones about how the Department of Energy will do this or that in this location, or how the Department of the Interior will be specially authorized to transfer a few square miles of wetlands nobody was living in over to a local tribe’s administration so they can be unified into a single preserve. The things that nobody could make into a big isssue.