WASHINGTON. President Biden’s address to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday was the start of a campaign to rethink his domestic agenda and abandon the grand ambitions of his first year in office in favor of more practical and politically appealing goals: lowering rising prices, fighting the pandemic , the fight against crime.
Gone are the extensive warnings about the “existential threat” of climate change, the explicit promises to promote “racial equality” in infrastructure projects, and even the title of its $2.2 trillion welfare and climate change spending package “Rebuild Better.” an initiative akin to the Great Society programs of the 1960s. Instead, Mr. Biden described his agenda as a solution to “rising food, gas, and housing prices,” resorting to more centrist language as a token of displeasure from moderate Democrats who have insisted that their party focus on voters’ day-to-day concerns. ahead of the midterm elections, they are expected to lose.
But while Mr. Biden changed his message, he spent most of his speech urging Congress to revive some parts of its stalled domestic agenda, including expanding child care, lowering prescription drug prices, and a proposal to raise the minimum wage. fee, which faltered in the Senate at the beginning of his reign. term. And it was unclear how successful Mr. Biden could salvage parts of the social policy package that fell apart late last year amid opposition from key moderates in his party.
On Wednesday, there were glimmers of hope for a revival of some aspects of Mr. Biden’s plan. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin III, a centrist Democrat who abruptly broke off talks on a sprawling spending plan in December, outlined a package he could support after weeks of refusing to discuss details.
And Mr. Biden continued his rebranding efforts during a trip Wednesday to Duluth, Minnesota, to promote a bipartisan infrastructure package, framing his plan as a way to provide economic relief to families in need.
“These guys are talking about how they’re always worried about spending,” Mr. Biden said, in what seemed to mean moderates and Republicans. “We’re reducing the deficit.”
Vulnerable Democrats, who have privately worried for months that the president’s vast spending plans are not resonating with their constituents, said they were relieved by the turnaround.
“Last fall, one of our concerns was that we treated legislation like a Christmas tree, and everyone’s favorite bauble should go on the tree,” said Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat from Michigan, who welcomed Mr. Biden’s focus on inflation control, supply chains and veterans issues. “What we heard last night, without using those exact words, was, ‘My agenda is now more of a priority’ – and the priorities are aligned with what people in my area are talking about.”
On Capitol Hill Wednesday, Mr. Manchin provided some new details about how he will seek to narrow Mr. Biden’s agenda. In an interview with Politico and later in comments to reporters, Mr. Manchin said Democrats should first increase revenues by repealing part of the 2017 Republican tax bill and passing legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs. From there, he said, the money should be used to both reduce the deficit and fund at least one major democratic priority within a decade.
“Half of this money should go to fighting inflation and reducing the deficit, and the other half you can allocate to a 10-year program – what you consider the highest priority,” Mr. Manchin told reporters, noting that several of his colleagues wanted focus on combating climate change.
“Everyone knows very well where I am,” he added. “If they’re not serious about inflation and debt, then, you know, I’m going to have a hard time negotiating.”
It remained unclear whether all Democrats would support such a plan, which is a real necessity for their tiny majority. This may alienate progressives who have abandoned the massive programs they championed. And it could also face resistance from Senator Kirsten Sinema of Arizona, another Democratic centrist who has turned down tax hikes for corporations and the wealthy, one of the results of the repeal of the 2017 tax law.
Press secretary Hannah Hurley suggested that Ms Cinema’s stance should not be an obstacle because she had already passed a tax increase large enough to fund the “narrow plan”.
Many Democrats have said that, given the obstacles to Mr. Biden’s original far-reaching plan, they are ready to rally around the incremental approach that Mr. Manchin outlined.
“I’ll take whatever works,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts. “There is no way around the math, so we have to figure out what 50 of us can agree on.”
With all 50 Republicans opposed, all 50 senators who caucus with the Democrats will have to support a motion to pass it with Vice President Kamala Harris’s casting vote in an evenly divided Senate.
For months, the White House has been responding to calls to distance the president from the congressional controversy and describe how his proposals will help deal with rising inflation, stoking anxiety in his party and hurting his approval rating. Biden’s top aides privately debated whether the “Build Back Better” label was an impediment to negotiations, a senior administration official said, said the final version of the package would be very different from the expansive bill proposed last year.
Moderate Democrats said they value what they see as a concerted effort to connect with voters in their states and districts. By highlighting the popular components of the larger bill, rather than putting them under one general heading, Mr. Biden may have made them more attractive, they say.
“When I get back to Montana, I hear about how people hate the Better Back Initiative,” said Senator John Tester, Democrat of Montana. “But then they say we need help with childcare, we need help with housing, we need help with caring for the elderly, we need to do something about climate change. So I think he picked the right tone.”
Democrats in politically competitive districts urged Mr. Biden to focus more on modest proposals to fight crime, fight the pandemic, and drive up spending. A group of moderates drew up a long list of bipartisan bills — “single and double,” as Rep. Josh Gotteimer, a New Jersey Democrat, put it — and presented them to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klein as measures that could be taken in quick succession and let voters know that Washington can act.
The group received a positive response from the White House, according to Ms. Slotkin, who welcomed Mr. Biden’s focus on inflation, supply chain issues and veterans’ issues.
Mr. Biden’s top aides also saw the state of the nation as an opportunity to fend off Republicans’ cultural attacks on crime and immigration. Moderate Democrats have seized on Mr. Biden’s mention of the need for increased border security and his longstanding call for investment in police departments.
But several Liberal Democrats have expressed disappointment that the president is not only glossing over some of their key priorities, such as easing student loans, but is taking the time to drop the “protect the police” slogan that some of them champion.
“There’s no need for that – we don’t need to feed off of this rhetoric and these attacks from Republicans,” said Rep. Corey Bush, Democrat of Missouri, who remained seated in the House gallery as Republicans and Democrats jumped to their feet and applauded. Mr Biden. stating that “the answer is not to defund the police”.
“They cannot dictate to us what we need and how we can speak,” Ms. Bush said. “What we need to do is solve the problem.”