‘so they are just p*****g into the wind’
No, they are buying more votes for the Dems. Period. They know it will not happen with the new Congress and then they will have a battering ram in the next election.
So I am not sure why you mentioned "No..." in your reply. Using it as a battering ram in the 2016s is possible for sure. This is just another blowing-smoke-up-the-voters-ass attempt to make Republicans look like the enemy, like their War on Women. But I think many voters, including many Democrats who have to have jobs to pay their own bills, will see through this red-herring and realize that there is only so much the government can giveaway.