Good luck with that, the White House seems intent on riding this kamikaze mission all the way to the bitter end, which is certain-defeat in the Senate and an empty legislative agenda for Biden’s first two years in office.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is quite safe in her San Francisco district, as are dozens of other progressives in the House. The moderate Democratic House members, from swing districts around the country, however, are getting nervous that Biden and friends are flushing their reelection hopes down the toilet to placate progressives in the party.
As it stands now, many House Dems are demanding a total reset of the party’s priorities heading into 2022.
They want the Build Back Better legislation and the voting rights sham bill shelved indefinitely:
House Democrats running for reelection in competitive districts, facing increasingly long odds of surviving a potential Republican wave, have confronted party leaders in recent days with demands for a new midterm strategy.
Among the requests of these so-called “front-liner” Democrats is to break up President Biden’s sprawling Build Back Better spending bill that has stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and hold votes on a series of politically popular provisions that would appeal to centrist voters and core Democrats alike.
These members have argued to top House leaders in recent days — so far, to no avail — that holding votes on narrow measures such as curbing prescription drug costs and extending the child tax credit would help Democrats make a case that they can improve voters’ lives economically despite soaring inflation and other issues that have dragged down Biden’s approval ratings.
America, as a voting electorate, seems to wholeheartedly agree with this approach as well. A recent CBS/YouGov poll found Americans overwhelmingly saying Biden is focused on the wrong priorities and not paying enough attention to things like inflation and the economy.
Democrats held a meeting in early January where swing district House members voiced these opinions to their leadership in unmistakable terms:
The tension was surfaced in a meeting early this month with House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), the second-highest ranking member of their caucus. Members pushed back when Hoyer, reflecting the continued view of House leadership, argued that breaking up the spending bill would mean abandoning the potentially transformative giant package, which he said still has a chance of passage.
“I don’t care,” Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) shot back, telling Hoyer that House Democrats should spend the year sending bills to the Senate with the hope that bipartisan deals could be reached on issues important to a broad range of voters. The meeting was described by two members on the call, who spoke anonymously to discuss private talks.
It really still seems to be the “Hail Mary” mentality among Pelosi, Schumer, and the White House that some deal can be reached and something called Build Back Better can be passed before the midterm elections. The chances of that outcome remain exceptionally low, especially after Biden really ticked off Manchin and Sinema implying they were straight-up racist for their opposition to nuking the Senate filibuster.
Republicans are a footnote in this legislative battle. There is no one to blame for Congressional inaction except the Democratic Party and Joe Biden.
It’s basic math in the Senate. A 50/50 split means Biden needs all 50 Democrats on board to move forward plus Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. Democrats simply do not have a workable majority to get much done in terms of passing any massive progressive agenda items. The game was over before it began when Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer started playing on a game board that didn’t exist.
Democrats can either limp along now until November bickering among themselves, or they can brush aside their progressive House crazies and try to pass some bipartisan items before it’s too late.
It seems evident which way they’re heading.
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