Biden’s agenda — and legacy — are on the line this summer in Congress
A few weeks ago, it appeared that Biden had support from at least five Republicans beyond the core negotiators: Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
But on Monday evening, two of those senators expressed concerns with the Democrats’ plan to pass infrastructure and their big social safety net bill in a two-track framework.
Moran and Rounds both signaled they could vote against the plan, according to Politico. Their defections would sink the bill.
Moran told the outlet he would “no longer be a yes” if passage of the bipartisan package enables Democrats to approve $6 trillion in spending. Rounds said he wants to see what the final legislation contains.
Still, it’s no surprise that as Democrats become more unified around the specifics of their social safety net bill, Republicans worry about being accused of rubber-stamping the Democrats’ reconciliation bill, simply by virtue of voting for the infrastructure bill.
But a key Republican who helped negotiate the deal, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, says Moran’s approach to the vote is wrong.
“Democrats were going to move ahead with reconciliation one way or the other, the question was whether infrastructure would be part of it or not,” Portman told The New York Times recently.
“I’ve never thought that they weren’t going to move forward with reconciliation because we were doing the infrastructure bill. Of course, they will try. But it doesn’t mean that they’ll be successful in doing everything that they want to do.”
The way Portman, who is not running for reelection next year, looks at the deal is that Republicans have effectively scooped out the most popular piece of Biden’s domestic agenda, stripped it of excess spending and tax hikes, and then slapped their name on it.
The next few days should determine which view of the infrastructure bill will ultimately prevail.
For Biden, these kinds of Republican head fakes, red lines and death notices for the deal are all part of the legislative process. He is focused on a legacy that will outlast several election cycles.
“These are generational investments,” Biden said in May. “The private sector does not make these kind of investments. We’ve neglected that kind of public investment for much too long.”
He added: “If we make these investments now, in 50 years, people are going to look back – your children or grandchildren will look back – and say this was the moment when America won the future.”
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/bidens-agenda-and-legacy-depend-on-congress-this-summer.html