That the destinies of the two bills, advocated by moderate Democrats and the other by progressives, be linked is in itself a clear metaphor for the broader dynamics that influence the party’s path in the Biden era, as it aims to show that it can reach the American people before the intermediate periods of next year. Neither package has enough support to pass in the House of Representatives without disparate factions of Democrats agreeing to vote on legislation that, in other circumstances, would not be inclined to back down. In short, Democrats are doing the job of a coalition government, the kind of tense, cut-out majority most commonly found in Western European parliamentary democracies.
To move forward on all sides of the shared agenda, Democrats need unanimity in the Senate ranks and can only afford to lose a handful of votes in the House. These thin margins and the fragility of the best plans established for leadership have been focused in recent weeks during an eleven-hour revolt against what Washington experts call the “two-way strategy,” which aims to put the two accounts on Biden’s desk approximately. at the same time: a legislative tactic of assured mutual destruction, with both parties empowered to eliminate the highest priority of the other.
Rivals on the court, allies on the hill
The political battlefield is complex, with overlapping incentives that make primary season rivals able to be allies in legislative matters.
This dynamic was shown during the recent confrontation regarding the time to vote in the House on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has already been passed in the Senate. A pro-independence group of Democratic lawmakers in the House demanded that he get to the floor immediately, a move that could have diverted legislation sought by the left. Eventually, the group reached an agreement with the leadership that allowed both avenues of the process to move forward. But those few days of white weddings, full of tense private meetings, White House calls and the launch of pressure campaigns from outside groups underscored the tenuous nature not only of current legislation but also of the status quo of the party.
Following the agreement, New York representative Hakeem Jeffries, president of the Democratic House Caucus, summarized the key political incentives that the day entailed.
“The most important thing is that, as Democrats, we stay united behind the goals set by President Biden,” Jeffries said. “Democracy is messy and Democrats are not a cult, we are a coalition.”
The parameters of this coalition have evolved in recent years with the growth of the party’s progressive wing, both on Capitol Hill and among a Democratic electorate that increasingly supports more ambitious policies.
“The struggle for power among established or corporate Democrats against progressives shows how far we have come in a short time. How far the progressive movement has come,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a group progressive founded in after the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in 2016. “We went from the outside, being locked up, forced to go out on the street, to have a seat at the table and to have real power and power where leadership must take us seriously. ”
Jeffries ’retreat against the progressive primary apparatus, carried out simultaneously with his work to create and maintain a unified front in Washington, underscores the sometimes uncomfortable internal political realities of the party.
In June, Jeffries, along with New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, and Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell, announced the formation of an organization designed to defend Democrats in roles that could face major challenges. Indeed, the group was designed to match ingenuity and dollars with Justice Democrats, the group that supported Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives, such as Missouri Representative Cori Bush and New York Representative Jamaal Bowman, 2020 .
But while the left prepares its challengers and moderates to launch a well-funded counteroffensive, they were ultimately pushing for the same legislative outcome on Capitol Hill, even if they used different methods and messages, including external attacks. against each other. – to get there.
“Constituents deserve to know the truth about how these nine Conservative Democrats are blocking urgent action on jobs, climate and child care,” said Alexandra Rojas of Organize for Justice and Justice Democrats , in a statement last Monday morning. “Americans have been waiting for more than a decade for action on many of these issues. It’s time to give results.”
Despite Gottheimer’s leading role in the drama about the timing of the infrastructure vote, which threatened to undermine the leadership of the House (of which Jeffries is a member), the mission of the new PAC, called Team Blue, remains unchanged. .
“The Blue PAC team hopes to support family members of the House Democratic Caucus,” a source familiar with Jeffries’ thinking told CNN, “with an emphasis on advocating for effective, progressive lawmakers like Carolyn Maloney.” John Yarmuth and Danny Davis moving forward Rebuilding a better agenda. ” , the longtime congressman of Kentucky’s 3rd district, faces a major struggle with a progressive state legislator.)
Biden White House: guardians of peace
Taken together, the legislation would represent the largest and consequent expansion of aid and protection in the social safety net of a generation. For many leftists, it also represents a marker of the growing influence of the movement.
While progressives still remain with other factions in the party in terms of representation in Congress, Biden and his team have worked tirelessly since he became the Democrats ’alleged presidential candidate in 2020 to build a working relationship with the left and its energy base.
Sanders, his closest competitor and the final rival who fell on Biden’s late rise to the nomination, has returned the favor. Ascending to the presidency of the Senate Budget Committee after Democrats, with whom he argues, won a majority in the Senate, Sanders has worked closely with the White House, even when some of his top campaign priorities, such as “Medicare for all,” they have been sidelined.
The White House, in turn, has provided support to progressives during the push to get the party’s two legislative priorities across the line. When the group of nine Democrats calling for an immediate House vote on the bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill said Biden shared his wish, the White House left them behind.
“(Biden) has made it clear that he wants both accounts on his table and that he hopes to sign each,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates told NBC News on Monday, adding that the president gave support for Pelosi’s broader approach to leading the White House agenda. .
Pelosi’s insistence that the process move in two directions along the White House’s public lines, when silence might have increased the House’s dynamics, reinforced the growing confidence among Hill progressives that Biden could be trusted. Both the president and its director of legislative affairs, Louisa Terrell, were among those working on the phones to help end the conflict.
“All of these pieces made me feel like we have the ammunition we need to get into the next stage of negotiations,” a senior aide involved in the Progressive Democrats’ strategy told CNN, suggesting they consider moderate Senate Democrats as the next big hurdle. “And for whatever it is (Senator Joe of West Virginia) Manchin and (Arizona Senator Kyrsten) Sinema, they’re not talking about allowing the reconciliation bill to get stuck.”
Democrats, most of whom are only as useful as their near-unanimity, seem to be on a path to fulfilling Biden’s ambitious framework. The party has shown, so far, that it can be both in “disarray” and in an operation in operation, and that the imperative to act, in coalition, seems to win the day.
This story has been updated with Jeffries ’membership in the Progressive Congress.