Democrats need to use their levers of power “to go big” and make a meaningful difference in the lives of Americans by approving trillions of dollars in spending now, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker said Sunday.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the New Jersey Democrat said the party may not have another opportunity so soon to pass legislation addressing climate change, health care and education.
“I’m sorry, when you have the leverage, you use the leverage,” Booker said.
President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are seeking to pass two spending bills at the same time, a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure measure and the $3.5 trillion Democratic-only bill that also would lower prescription drug prices, extend the child tax credit for lower and middle-class families, and restore at least part of the federal deduction for state and local taxes that Republicans capped in their 2017 tax bill.
Booker said Congress needed to pass both.
“This is a moment for America to go big,” Booker said. “This is realpolitik. And the reality is right now we will have very small opportunities. You know what it looks like for the next Congress, to move this big. People elected the president of the United States to do bold, big things that will change America.
“This is our moment. We should seize it.”
In a July Monmouth University Poll, 70% of Americans backed the infrastructure bill, with 29% in opposition, and 63% supported the spending bill, with 35% in opposition. Both measures also had strong support in an August Quinnipiac University Poll, with the infrastructure bill favored by 65%-28%, and the spending bill by 62%-32%.
A group of House moderates, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., had threatened to scuttle the larger bill until House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agreed to take up the infrastructure measure before the end of September. While the bill is scheduled for debate Monday, the vote could be delayed.
“I’m never bringing to the floor a bill that doesn’t have the votes,” Pelosi said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Gottheimer acknowledged on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the deadline could slip, but that the infrastructure bill would pass this week.
“I believe when it does come to the floor, that we will have the votes,” he said.
He also said he was “completely committed” to the larger spending bill. “And I will tell you there’s so much in there with also helping to fight climate change, to child care, to reinstating the state level tax deduction to helping make life more affordable,” he said.
At the same time, some progressives have said they won’t back the infrastructure legislation until a deal is reached on the larger spending bill, to be passed under a process known as reconciliation that prevents a Senate Republican filibuster.
“We’re ready to vote for both,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on CNN. “But we need to actually get the reconciliation bill done.”
Booker agreed, saying he didn’t want to pass the infrastructure bill now and return to the other spending measure later without an ironclad commitment to pass that as well.
“To get half of this done and leave mothers who are looking for affordable child care, Americans who are looking for lower cost prescription drugs, to leave people like that on the wayside, families that need that child tax credit, to leave those folks on the wayside is unacceptable to me,” Booker said.
“I want a more real guarantee,” he said. “Look, I have been looked in the eye by people in this town and they’ve meant it sincerely. There’s honor in them saying it. ‘Hey, Cory, we’re not going to get this in such-and-such a bill, but we’ll get to it.’ Well, sometimes that ‘get to it’ turns out to be a year, the next Congress, or what have you.”
With just narrow majorities in the House and Senate, the Democrats may not even have a next Congress to enact their legislation as the president’s party traditionally loses seats in off-year elections.
The House Budget Committee passed the $3.5 trillion measure on Saturday. Its next stop is the House Rules Committee, which could add the state and local tax provision that so far has been kept out of the legislation. A floor vote on the legislation may not occur until after the House and Senate finish their negotiations.
Booker and Pelosi both said Sunday that the size of the final spending bill may shrink. Moderate Democratic U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have balked at spending as much as Biden and congressional Democratic leaders want.
“I’m sure there’s going to be some kind of compromise,” Booker said.
Booker said the spending bill was fully paid for and actually is smaller than the Republican tax law projected to increase the deficit by $1.9 trillion over 10 years.
“In Washington math, you’ve got to get upset about this,” Booker said. “Donald Trump’s tax cut was a $5 trillion bill. People called it a $2 trillion bill because $3 trillion of it was paid for. Paid for in the wrong way, getting rid of our state and local tax deduction.
“This one is a zero bill,” he added. “We’re paying for the whole thing. But yet, we’re using different math to make it sound bigger and more ornery.”
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.
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