Democrats are facing new objections from Republicans over the Biden administration’s COVID-19 aid package, a maddening reality that has raised the alarm among progressives who fear that difficult issues may be left behind.
While President Joe Biden has long praised the ability to work to inspire bipartisanship, some in the left wing of the party are already warning against spending too much time trying to negotiate with the Republican Party, citing double control in the House and Senate and emphasizing the importance of provide quick monetary relief to Americans during the pandemic.
“Democrats just need to move on,” said Larry Cohen, president of Our Revolution, a grassroots network that supported Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) presidential candidacies. “It’s great if [Sen. Marco] Rubio (R-FL) and others who made noise show that we can build a broader coalition on critical issues, but that cannot wait ”.
“Do people want to vote against? Well, they are on record, ”he scoffed.
A few days after the start of Biden’s first term, progressives fear that in order to get an urgent coronavirus project approved with adequate Republican support, Democrats may have to commit to important economic issues, such as raising the minimum wage federal. On Friday, Biden signed an executive order that gave federal workers a guarantee of $ 15 an hour, but to extend that amount to the broader workforce would have to go through Congress.
While running for president, Biden indicated that “it was time” to adopt a uniform $ 15 minimum wage. His stance changed in alignment with other Democrats who formally defended that baseline after the 2015 Sanders campaign.
During the early days of his administration, the president included the salary increase as part of his $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan, a measure that Democrats celebrated as a way to help workers beyond the additional $ relief check. 1,400 proposed. Unlike the single check, activists on the left see the rise in the minimum wage as part of fulfilling a long-term commitment to economic justice.
Republican congressmen, however, began to express more discontent this week over the general package proposed by Biden, which would ultimately require 60 votes in the Senate to pass and could be a lengthy effort.
“Republicans have no incentive to cooperate,” said Joe Dinkin, national campaign director for the Working Families Party. “Democrats shouldn’t waste a second or make a single concession to Trump’s party and billionaires and seditionists in trying to pass on aid and recovery to all Americans.”
A leading Republican Party official, Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), signaled earlier this week that he does not believe the proposal will be approved in its current form, effectively granting permission for other Republican members to follow their skepticism and push for change. conservative. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) seemed to follow suit, thinking out loud why that high amount would be needed after Republicans already approved an aid package while President Donald Trump was in office.
With Republican Party resistance increasingly evident, some on the left fear that moderate Democrats may be tempted to compromise at the expense of the progressive causes they have championed for years. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich called Biden vying for Republican support is a “waste of time, energy and credibility” and predicted that “he won’t make it”.
Anticipating a still tense atmosphere in Washington unlikely to change dramatically in the coming weeks, pro-worker activists like Reich are encouraging Democrats to move forward with budgetary reconciliation, which would allow them to pass the bill without the support of the opposite party, using the Vice President Kamala Harris as a critical decision maker.
“No rules are being broken. It is a legal and legitimate process, “said Randy Bryce, a prominent union worker in Wisconsin, who launched a remote candidacy against former Mayor Paul Ryan (R-WI) in 2018.” We will get the votes as we can and show who is in favor of helping American workers and who is opposed to it. We will make a written document. “
Bryce, who was endorsed by Sanders, shared a tone similar to that of the populist senator who argued that Democrats need to use other means at their disposal if Republicans do not follow his lead on something they believe should be fundamentally bipartisan.
“The Senate’s 60-vote limit on passing important legislation has become an excuse for inaction,” Sanders wrote in an article on CNN earlier this week explaining the budget reconciliation method. “But let’s be clear: we have the tools to overcome these procedural obstacles.”
He also warned that if Democrats take a more modest approach to the issue, they could face dire electoral ramifications in just two years. With a smaller than expected majority in the House, losing just a few seats can cost party control in the lower house and call into question the prospect of promoting a progressive agenda.
“Look at the next repeat election in 2010,” said Cohen, referring to when Democrats lost the House at the start of the Obama administration. “That’s what Democrats should be afraid of.”