But a state’s proposal, like other central elements of the democratic agenda, may not make it to the Senate this year, given the lack of unified support from Biden’s party. With infrastructure and voting bills proving difficult enough to get to the president, Democrats are putting long-held progressive priorities like a 51st state, Supreme Court expansion and a $ 15 minimum wage on the proverbial back burner while focusing on what is really feasible.
After a Trump era that encouraged the left flank to push through ambitious plans, the party’s legislative agenda is sliding from loftiness to pragmatism.
“Passing on infrastructure is more important than anything we don’t know for sure we can actually get the votes,” said Senator Martin Heinrich (DN.M.), who supports both the state of DC and Puerto Rico. “Right now, we need to spend our limited floor time on the most important things for the Biden administration to be successful and for our country to be successful … if we can do the other things, great.”
Not to mention the Green New Deal that Liberals reintroduced on Tuesday, which will join the Supreme Court’s changes to its list of progressive targets that probably won’t even hit the House floor. Another pass of liberal bills already won the House’s passage before stopping in the Senate, such as ethics reform, new background checks for gun buyers, LGBTQ safeguards, and protections for so-called Dreamers.
The underlying problem for progressives: Most of their big proposals are several votes – or in some cases, much more – away from uniting the Senate’s 50 Democratic caucus members, and others dividing the House’s small Democratic majority.
Those rules are especially clear about the state of DC, which has a historic amount of Democratic support in the Senate this year but still can’t pass, due to some Democrats’ hesitation and the filibuster’s existence. Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Who supports the state of DC, admitted that “it’s not the top priority for me. It is important. I support it. But the right to vote, the infrastructure, has a much higher priority. ”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), President of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, pushed back, arguing that the issue of the state is not “alien” to the party’s goals.
“We are talking about the votes and democracy of 725,000 people,” said Jayapal, referring to the lack of urgency from some of her Senate colleagues to vote on the state of DC. “It is the core and central to who we are as a democracy and for who we are as democrats.”
The Senate has changed ownership of what Democrats called Mitch McConnell’s “legislative graveyard,” but the upper room is still where many of the boldest ideas in Biden’s party will be buried. While the filibuster remains a hindrance to progressive performance, the reality is that Democrats find it very difficult to get all of their 50 senators aligned to begin with.
The state of DC – expected to be approved on party lines on Thursday – is a blatant example, with some Democratic senators suggesting it’s not worth the speaking time when their chamber is already full of inter-aisle negotiation over bills that become a chance for law .
However, House progressives warn their Capitol counterparts that they cannot make rigid proposals popular with their grassroots without Democratic voters punishing them for circumventing a long list of campaign promises that contributed to party control over Washington.
“Of course, if it’s worth doing, there’s time,” said representative Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) Of the DC Statehood Bill.
Dean is one of the House Democrats who will appear at a press conference on Thursday and demands an end to the filibuster. Outside the state of DC, the Pennsylvania Democrat readily tipped off house-passed bills that have accumulated in the Senate this year: “The Equality Act. A few gun bills. Authorization for violence against women. So many transformative accounts. “
One obvious difference since the 2020 election, of course, is that the Democratic leaders can now force Republicans to take action against their high-priority bills. But in the case of a state, that would also exhaust the five members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who so far withhold support: King, Joe Manchin from West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona, Mark Kelly from Arizona and Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire. . Shaheen backed the state in the previous congress, saying on Wednesday that she still supports the concept, but has not revised the latest House bill.
In fact, it’s not clear that a Democratic senator is outright opposed to the state of DC, even if the quintet keeps their names out of the bill. Kelly said he supported the goal of representation to Washingtonians, but was noncommittal in an interview.
‘I didn’t really go into that. We have so many other things, ”Manchin said of the DC state proposal.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said he “will try to pave a path to make it happen,” but did not guarantee a vote on the ground. He is publicly committed to considering voting rights laws and background checks on weapons, but in the coming weeks the Senate is focused on considering scary hate crime legislation, a bill on water infrastructure, and a bill to help the US compete with China.
That stance is not exactly representative of the problems that have fueled that party’s activist base over the past five years.
“Frustrated is an understatement,” said Senate Agenda Representative Mondaire Jones (DN.Y.).
Democratic leaders have anticipated this backlog of leftist bills. Within hours of the party winning a few senate seats in Georgia and taking full control of Washington, they faced shouts from liberals to blow up the filibuster and live up to a sprawling agenda.
But those demands are incompatible with a chamber and senate so closely divided that even absence is a major headache. Even issues that were once bipartisan, such as immigration, union protection, and gun safety, are miles away from a super-majority of 60 votes in the Senate.
Importantly, the Democrats have taken advantage of their party’s energy to take other progressive measures. They have passed a massive $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus bill with increased unemployment benefits and tax credits for children and committed to passing another similarly major infrastructure bill.
‘We have passed a huge and necessary aid package. We are working on a large infrastructure bill and we are determined to include [the voting rights and ethics bill] S1 soon. So we’re working through all the pieces, ”said Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Some House Democrats are looking for temporary solutions that can keep their highest hopes alive, even in terms of voting rights. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus took the case to Biden on Tuesday for passing immigration reforms by a simple majority in the Senate – rather than risking another big disappointment with bipartisan talks. (White House press secretary Jen Psaki knocked down the idea the next day.)
That frustration is unlikely to diminish. Nearly 100 days into Biden’s tenure, many House Democrats – who have already spent two years since taking back the majority to watch the Senate crush their priorities – are getting impatient.
Look, for four years we complained that bills went to the Senate and died and went to Mitch McConnell’s graveyard. We cannot let these really good bills die in the Senate under Democratic control, ”said Rep. David Cicillin (DR.I.). “Our colleagues in the Senate have to figure out a way.”