The state of the democratic party

Dems fear Biden’s domestic agenda could implode
“If any member of Congress is not concerned that this could fall apart, they need treatment,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.).

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/21/democrats-biden-domestic-agenda-implode-513218

excerpt

Internal Democratic discord has wounded President Joe Biden’s massive social spending plan, raising the prospect that the package could stall out, shrink dramatically — or even fail altogether.
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more at the link

 

https://theweek.com/democrats/1005178/democrats-scare-off-the-median-voter

Democrats scare off the median voter
Damian Linker
3:21 pm

The Democratic Party, with the narrowest of majorities, is trying to pass two bills through Congress that, in their current form, would increase federal spending by roughly $4.5 trillion with an as-yet indeterminate amount of compensating revenue increases. At the same time, the Democrats also want to boost the party's popularity heading into the 2022 midterms and, ultimately, the 2024 presidential election.

If a recent Matthew Yglesias Substack post is right, it might not be possible to do both.

That's because, as Yglesias argues, the median voter in America is a 50-something white person who didn't graduate from college and lives in the suburbs of an unfashionable American city. And this median voter is unlikely to support policies favored by the party's progressive caucus, which has so far had the biggest say on what's in these bills. That means that the Democrats are spending months trying to pass legislation that's well to the left of the median American voter when appealing to the median voter is the best, and perhaps only, way to increase the political power of Democrats in Washington over the next few election cycles.

Now, of course this doesn't mean the Dems should mimic Republicans and pass a big tax cut and support no new significant spending. Yglesias' median voter theorem applies most powerfully to culture-war issues, and some of the policy proposals in the two spending bills — hard infrastructure (roads and bridges), for example, as well as regulations on prescription drug pricing — are quite broadly popular. The Democrats would be foolish not to pass and run on these initiatives in 2022 and beyond.

But much of the rest of what's in especially the second, much larger ($3.5 trillion) bill? It's a mixed bag, like the bill itself. Some items poll well, others less so. But as progressive pundit Eric Levitz admits, the enormous spending Congress passed early on in the Biden presidency (including substantial checks sent to many millions of Americans) didn't do much of anything to boost Biden's approval rating. So whether any item in the current spending bills does anything to help Democrats is unclear. But what is clear is that the enormous overall price tag will almost certainly be hung around the party's neck by Republicans as the country heads into the midterms.

That won't hurt progressive members of the Democratic caucus in the House, who in most cases come from safely blue districts. But Democrats from purple districts, like many Democratic senators up for re-election next year, could find themselves running headlong into a Republican buzz saw if Biden ends up signing the larger bill in its current form.

It certainly wouldn't be the first time Democrats traded a progressive victory on policy for broader popularity and future power.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...rats-are-verge-failure-there-is-path-through/

Opinion: Democrats are on the verge of failure. But there is a path through.
Opinion by the
Editorial Board
Yesterday at 1:24 p.m. EDT

For weeks, Democrats have argued over how best to take advantage of their perhaps fleeting control of both chambers of Congress. Progressives want to use “reconciliation” — a parliamentary maneuver that permits taxing and spending bills to pass with a bare majority, instead of the Senate’s usual 60-vote requirement — to push through a far-ranging social spending bill. Moderates have balked at spending $3.5 trillion over 10 years, much of that on programs that could be slimmed down.

Now it is crunch time. President Biden held marathon talks Wednesday to bridge the differences, but the two sides remain far apart. All of them support a separate, $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that passed the Senate with bipartisan support. But progressives say they will vote it down on Monday unless moderates back their vision of a reconciliation package. Moderates want the infrastructure bill to pass whether or not there is agreement on reconciliation; the country needs it now, they say, and Democrats could show they can deliver. Progressives worry they would then lose leverage in future reconciliation negotiations.

The upshot is that they could end up delivering nothing: no infrastructure bill, no larger social spending bill. Democrats would squander a rare opportunity to address generational problems such as climate change, health-care access and wealth inequality. They would keep Mr. Biden from delivering on his promise to make Washington work again. Failure could empower Republicans, for whom embracing the poisonous lie that Mr. Biden lost the 2020 election is becoming a requirement for holding office, with potentially dire consequences for U.S. democracy.

There is a way through: substantive compromise. Moderates have complained about the reconciliation bill without making a counteroffer. They must provide an alternative. Mr. Biden appears to have persuaded them to do so. Progressives must then be open to the moderates’ offer. Negotiations should center not on how much should be spent, as they have so far, but on which programs deserve funding and on how to design them to reach those with genuine need.

Expanding the child tax credit would halve the child poverty rate. Ensuring access to pre-kindergarten education would relieve pressure on working families. Pumping up Pell grants would enable low-income people to afford college. Long-needed policies on global warming would help rescue the planet from climate disaster. One way for moderates and progressives to bridge their divides is to means-test new social spending, directing it only to those who need it. Rich seniors do not need new Medicare benefits. Similarly, reinforcing the Affordable Care Act would make a much larger difference to low-income people than lowering the Medicare eligibility age. Reasonable tax hikes on the wealthy and on corporations could then cover the cost.

If Democrats agree on a compromise framework before Monday, progressives could vote for the infrastructure bill with more comfort that a reconciliation package is on track. Alternatively, if negotiations are not quite complete, moderates could allow House leaders to delay a vote on the infrastructure bill in the knowledge that good-faith negotiations are underway.

This is not easy. Wide philosophical chasms divide Democrats: Should social programs be means-tested or universal; how much should the government direct the economy; how high should taxes be raised; how fast should change occur? Mr. Biden and the Democrats must show that people with deep, principled disagreements can shake hands on a plan that none think is perfect — but that would make tangible, sizable progress for the nation.
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it really isn't. I also disagree that the Trumpsters have been "successful." What exactly have they succeeded at?

 

I still really haven't seen any evidence that this claim ("weakened election laws") is true.

 

well that's inconvenient