Congressional Democrats planned to spend much of this year promoting the significant accomplishments passed under the Biden administration, conducting a campaign blitz across the country to talk about universal preschool, free community college, monthly child tax credit payments, expanded access to voting, and much more.
But Democrats, who control both the House and the Senate, could not pass much of their agenda, leaving them with little to brag about to voters and an empty legislative calendar to fill ahead of the daunting midterm elections.
A downtrodden Nancy Pelosi addressed reporters Thursday, a day after a major voting and election overhaul measure was defeated by two centrist Democrats, to talk about how she would fill the calendar now that most of the party’s major 2020 campaign promises have been shelved.
“There is a great deal to be proud of,” the House speaker insisted on Thursday while acknowledging the defeat of significant voting legislation and President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” spending bill. “With that, we go on to what we want to do next.”
Pelosi’s plan included a string of legislation that sounded like the B-side of a record.
Instead of passing a broad array of new government programs and subsidies that would affect millions of people or legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for millions living in the United States illegally, as Democrats have long promised, Pelosi promoted a series of less ambitious bills that are more likely to garner bipartisan support.
One bill would provide funding to help military veterans recover from exposure to burn pits, while another measure would address U.S. competitiveness against China. The House will also consider measures sanctioning Russia. In addition, she said, the House is focused on the annual effort to fund the government.
“All of these are big bills,” Pelosi insisted, citing the hefty price tag for each.
Postal reform legislation is also on the agenda, she added.
But the void left by the shelved wish list has some party lawmakers worried that the liberal base will abandon Democrats in November and not turn out to vote, perhaps feeling jilted by big promises made in 2020 that never materialized.
“To everyone who has taken to the streets and poured their hearts into this fight for voting rights, we see you, we hear you, and we echo your frustration at this outcome,” leaders of the House Progressive Caucus said following the vote. “We promise you that progressives in Congress are not giving up. This will not be the end.”
Instead of “barnstorming” across the states to promote voting and election overhaul legislation and other accomplishments as Democrats hoped to be doing, they are tearing into each other over the failure to pass major agenda items.
Shortly after Democratic centrist Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia blocked a change in the filibuster rule that would have paved the way for passage of the two voter measures, party activists ripped into them.
“Tonight, Republican senators lined up to shake Kyrsten Sinema’s hand,” former Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted. “Democratic senators should have given her the backs of their hands.”
The latest defeat for Democrats happened on Wednesday when a long-sought voting and election overhaul measure widely touted by party lawmakers and Biden failed to pass the Senate.
The outcome was long predicted, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer nonetheless dedicated ample floor time to the doomed measures before being defeated in a late-night vote.
“There’s no question last night was a disappointment,” Pelosi said Thursday.
While Republicans were responsible for preventing the passage of legislation, Manchin and Sinema blocked a change to the filibuster rules that would have allowed the measures to pass.
The defeat comes just a few weeks after Manchin torpedoed the Build Back Better Act by announcing he would not support it, which deprived the party of the 50 votes required to pass it, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote, using a budgetary tactic that would circumvent a GOP filibuster.
On Thursday, Manchin and Pelosi signaled a glimmer of hope that they would pass at least part of Build Back Better.
Manchin told reporters he is renewing talks with Biden on another version of the bill, but he said the two would have to start from scratch.
Pelosi told reporters she is optimistic, even if the original bill never becomes law.
“I’m sure we can agree upon something significant,” Pelosi said.
