Biden: I don't think Putin is looking for a 1:58 Cold War
(CNN) -
President Joe Biden now faces a conundrum almost as thankless as negotiating with Vladimir Putin: pushing his stalled agenda into a deadlocked Congress.
Air Force One brought Biden back to Washington after his talks with the Russian president that capped his European tour.
Now he has to grapple with the limits of a 50-50 Senate, Republican obstruction, and divisions between moderate and progressive Democrats that threaten his ambitious plans to rebuild the nation's physical infrastructure, address the climate crisis, and expand the social safety net. .
After successfully enacting a massive covid-19 bailout bill and launching an unprecedented vaccination campaign, the president is now under increasing pressure to satisfy Democratic hopes for transformative reform in a window of action that shrinks quickly.
Biden may also be dealing with the crosswinds of mounting pressure from progressives on Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to step down, so that Biden would be in a position to name a replacement before Democrats potentially lose their majorities. in the midterm elections.
The White House rejected assessments that Biden's agenda was in trouble when the president left for Europe last week.
And while the political equation in Washington is challenging, the president's hopes of solving his legislative Rubik's cube may have improved slightly while abroad.
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There were signs of movement, for example, when the latest bipartisan group trying to reach an agreement on infrastructure met on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Members and leaders, however, recognized that there is still a long way to go as they try to reach consensus on how to pay for improvements.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second Senate Republican, told reporters that the group has done a good job of trying to address the concerns of both parties, but said "a lot of details ... need to be completed."
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In another potentially positive sign for the president, conservative West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, a major impediment to progressive dreams of a transformative presidency, is circulating proposed changes and additions to two voting rights bills. Democrats see those bills as the best hope of countering dozens of legislative measures crafted by Republicans that make voting difficult and facilitate the manipulation of election results.
But the glimmers of hope for the Democratic agenda pale in comparison to Biden's task of holding his own party together and grappling with the reality that Republicans may hold back on his plans due to the Senate's requirement for a supermajority of 60 votes to pass. important legislation.
To pass an infrastructure bill, for example, the president will first have to secure an agreement between 20 bipartisan senators now seeking common ground.
Any deal will fall far short of the original $ 2 trillion bill he had originally envisioned and will focus on traditional projects like roads and bridges, while eliminating the controversial social spending that he had included in his original plan.
Another problem is how to pay for the package, as Republicans refuse to reduce the tax cuts introduced in the 2017 law passed by then-President Donald Trump.
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Progressives demand action on their priorities
To compound Biden's challenge, progressive Democrats are skeptical that any Senate compromise will meet their priorities.
And they warn that they would not accept such a small settlement without a commitment to pass elements such as home health care and climate change mitigation measures, which were in the original infrastructure bill, through the Senate through the use of a device. simple majority used for budget legislation known as reconciliation.
"We have already wasted three weeks of bipartisan negotiations just to get them nowhere," the president of the progressive congressional caucus, Pramila Jayapal, of Washington, told reporters.
"I have been saying for weeks that we will not be able to get the votes for a smaller package unless there is a simultaneous movement of an agreed all-inclusive reconciliation package."
Democratic Senators Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeff Merkley of Oregon similarly said this week that they will not support a bipartisan infrastructure package unless they have a guarantee that climate action will be included in a separate reconciliation package.
Markey said "it's time" to move beyond bipartisan infrastructure negotiations and for Democrats to "go our own way."
He underscored the urgency to do something before the August recess, a key deadline looming for Biden.
We shouldn't leave here until we do.
We cannot allow so-called Republicans for bipartisanship to deny the American people the climate action they have been demanding, "he said.
"There has to be a guarantee, an absolute and unbreakable guarantee that the climate will be at the center of any infrastructure deal we make."
Here's what we know about the bipartisan infrastructure deal
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already begun a two-way process by consulting with members of the Budget Committee on the package that Democrats would try to promote on their own through reconciliation.
It's unclear whether moderate Democrats like Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema would support such an approach, which would require an agreement among all 50 Democrats.
Schumer came out of a meeting with Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee Wednesday night, calling it a "great first discussion."
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said the first votes could come in July and the group discussed including provisions on climate and immigration.
Kaine acknowledged that it will be difficult to reach a consensus among the 50 Democrats: "You cannot say that we are united because we have not discussed all the details and there are 50 people."
Biden appeared to indicate, however, that he believes a two-way process could unlock both a new infrastructure law and progressive goals.
Biden hopes to collect the 'bookends'
“I know that Schumer and Nancy have also moved forward in a reconciliation arrangement.
So I still hope we can put the two bookends together here, ”the president said in Geneva, also referring to President Nancy Pelosi.
A small group of Democratic senators also met with White House officials to brief them on the bipartisan framework of the infrastructure plan, and Manchin said the group expected to release more details next week.
Steven J. Ricchetti, a counselor at Biden, said the discussion was "very cordial and productive."
But Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said the group is trying to get around "a lot of preconditions from our Republican friends," as well as the president's, "so it's challenging."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell anticipated the challenges of winning the support of the Republican Party on Tuesday when he laid out his requirements for a deal: "Tell me how you listen and hope that somehow, somehow , we will be able to move forward with an infrastructure bill that does two things.
McConnell has a decision to make.
There are several Republicans who want an infrastructure deal to show their constituents that they can do something before the midterm elections.
But given that a compromise would be a great achievement for a president who has made unity and bipartisanship an unlikely topic in his administration in times of partisan tension, Republicans may ultimately be unwilling to give it the go. victory to Biden.
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McConnell has always said 'No'
Throughout the first months of Biden's presidency, Democrats have maintained a fragile peace within their fractured party even as progressives cry out for Biden to go bigger and bolder to tackle the climate crisis and tackle inequality. income, which he attempted to fulfill in part with some of his proposals to improve the situation of home health care workers in the initial comprehensive infrastructure bill.
Progressives are also fighting for two laws: the "People's Act" and the "John Lewis Voting Rights Promotion Act," which they see as crucial to reversing state laws based on Trump's lies about electoral fraud in the last elections, which in many cases discriminate against minority voters and introduce partisan control of the elections. Some moderate Democrats are uncomfortable with the scope of the bills. And the Republicans are adamantly opposed. That means they cannot pass in its current form without an effort to abolish the 60-vote barrage threshold, a step that Manchin, for example, says he will refuse to take.
But on Wednesday, Manchin also circulated changes and proposed additions to both the "For the People" Act and the "John Lewis Voting Rights Act" that he could live with while Democrats devise strategies to overcome the hurdle of Get 60 votes on a ballot bill. Manchin has also been reaching out to Republican senators, CNN's Manu Raju reported Wednesday, holding a Zoom meeting Monday night with Republicans to see if they could reach consensus, a source familiar with the talks told CNN. .
Yet signs of optimism in an institution as polarized as Congress are often just the prelude to disappointment.
And given the ever-narrowing window for Biden to capitalize on the cusp of his power and influence with the midterm elections looming next year, and with only a few weeks before lawmakers go home for the summer, the pieces should come together soon.
Republicans are looking ahead to the 2022 election, promising a lock on Biden's agenda.
Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso noted at an event this week that McConnell was criticized during Barack Obama's presidency for saying he wanted to make sure Obama was "a one-term president."
"I want to make Joe Biden a mid-term president," Barrasso said at an appearance before The Ripon Society.
"And I want to do that by making sure they no longer have a House, Senate, White House."
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Biden's waning momentum for fundamental reform was also highlighted this week when McConnell refused to guarantee that he would confirm a Supreme Court candidate if the Republican Party regains control of the US Senate.
When the president was asked about McConnell's comments during his overseas trip, his answer encapsulated the shadow that Republican obstruction cast over his entire agenda.
"Mitch hasn't said more than 'No' for a long time and I'm sure he means exactly what he says, but we'll see."
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