Back when I would travel to DC a bit to scheme, occasionally talking to members of Congress and legislative staff, there was this weird way in which any idea would just get complicated. Like...we'd really like to do X. But we can't get the votes for X (this is mostly in that period when "we" controlled Congress) or the support of the Obama administration. So..how about we do Y, which is like a much more complicated version of X...maybe we can get the votes that way! There was a bit of desperation in this. It wasn't necessarily that they believed it. They were just trying to find some way.. any way. But still the idea that making it more complicated than necessary could get support infused all discussions. It's just weird.