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Democratic Centrists and Progressives Wrestle Over Biden Agenda; Party lawmakers brace for difficult negotiations this fall on details of their $3.5 trillion healthcare, education and climate planDuehren, Andrew; Peterson, Kristina. Wall Street Journal (Online); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 25 Aug 2021. WASHINGTON—The intraparty fracas over passing a $3.5 trillion budget outline has left Democrats girding for an even more difficult set of negotiations this fall as progressives and centrists begin sparring on the details of their broad healthcare, education and climate plan. The dayslong standoff between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and a group of centrist Democrats centered on the timing of advancing the budget outline and a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan , with the moderate lawmakers unsuccessfully demanding a vote on the public-works plan before the $3.5 trillion outline. After striking a deal, House Democrats approved the budget resolution on Tuesday, and party leaders said they would bring up the infrastructure bill by Sept. 27 while also working to quickly finalize the second package. Not only will Democrats face the same dispute over sequencing in the fall, as progressives still push for the $3.5 trillion bill to come up before infrastructure, but they will also have to come to terms on the scores of policy questions they hope to tackle in the bill—a process that could ultimately take months. Democrats will rely on narrow majorities in the House and Senate to try to muscle into law a package that includes an expansion of Medicare as well as universal prekindergarten and antipoverty measures—along with tax increases on companies and high-income households. "The challenge of the bill this fall is not to have this kind of cliffhanger, but to work it out and accommodate people," said Rep. David Price (D., N.C.). "It's tough given our narrow majority and given the range of views. It's not going to be easy to figure out what the sweet spot is, but if we're going to succeed that's what we gotta do." The tug of war over the timing of voting on the infrastructure and budget plans reflects mutual skepticism between the moderates and progressives of the Democratic Party. Moderate Democrats in the House and Senate have already raised concerns about the size of the $3.5 trillion proposal and its tax increases, seeking to pass the public-works bill as quickly as possible. Progressives, in turn, have said they would oppose the infrastructure bill—a priority for moderates—until the healthcare, education, and climate measures pass the Senate, aiming to create pressure for the moderates to support the $3.5 trillion plan. The centrists are now pushing to decouple the two bills and conduct the negotiations over the $3.5 trillion bill separately from the infrastructure bill. Several moderates said Mrs. Pelosi's commitment to bringing up the infrastructure bill by Sept. 27 accomplishes that. "I'm just glad that we landed in the right place for us to be able to move forward on the infrastructure bill, de-linked from the reconciliation bill, and that we will be able to have a level playing field within the Democratic caucus as we have discussions around what should go in the reconciliation bill," said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D., Fla.), one of the House Democrats who pushed for an infrastructure vote before approving the budget outline. Ms. Murphy said President Biden called her Sunday night to encourage her to support his agenda. But progressive Democrats are maintaining that they will oppose the infrastructure bill if the $3.5 trillion legislation hasn't yet been approved. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that centrists fell short of their demand for a vote on infrastructure before the now-passed budget outline for the $3.5 trillion bill, leaving progressives at an advantage in future talks. "I didn't understand what they were expecting to achieve. And the fact that they're going to end up supporting what they said they wouldn't without actually getting what they wanted, I think sets them up for failure in negotiations in the future," Ms. Omar said. The dispute has drawn the attention of outside activists, including Our Revolution, a progressive group, that is holding demonstrations at the offices of Democrats pushing them to support the healthcare, education and climate package. "At the end of the day there are two factions that are vying for control of the Democratic Party, the progressives and the corporate Democrats, and what we are trying to do is make sure that progressive priorities are reflected in Democratic priorities," said Joseph Geevarghese, the group's executive director. Approval of the budget resolution in the House on Tuesday unlocks a legislative process called reconciliation that Democrats are using to advance their priorities without Republican support in the 50-50 Senate. Top Democrats have given committees until Sept. 15 to prepare their segments of the package, and some progressives are hoping to finish the bill before the Sept. 27 deadline for the infrastructure bill. Crafting such a large, complicated bill in that timeline might be difficult, with some lawmakers indicating that they don't want to rush through the legislation. "It's going to be hectic, but if you're starting at $3.5 trillion it's not appropriate to jam that into a few weeks," said Rep. Scott Peters (D., Calif.). "We gotta tread pretty carefully to make sure there's not any unintended consequences. I think it's unwise to try and fit it all into September." While the infrastructure package drew GOP support when it passed the Senate , Republicans have lined up against the $3.5 trillion plan. "Obviously they have an internal battle on their side. Republicans are unified against it," said Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee. In a press conference Wednesday, Mrs. Pelosi said Democrats would ultimately unify around the bill. "There are those who'd like to see the reconciliation [package] be smaller," she said, adding that those concerns "had an impact on some of the debate." "I have tremendous respect for all of our members and what their views are and what they bring to the table. At the end of the day, what had to prevail is the president's vision and the needs of America's working families and they saw that," she said. Several specific issues in the legislation are expected to be hot spots in the negotiations, including a plan to empower the federal government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. Democrats have aired disagreements about proposed increases in the top capital-gains tax rate, a plan to tax unrealized gains at death and raising the corporate tax rate. A group of Democrats from states with high taxes have insisted that the legislation reinstate the full deduction for state and local taxes, which Republicans capped at $10,000 in their 2017 tax law. On top of the disagreements on the tax measures are concerns from some Democrats about the bill adding to the deficit, meaning efforts to pull back the proposed tax increases may be accompanied by an effort to rein in the spending in the bill. Rep. Richard Neal (D., Mass.), the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said the lure of the spending proposals will drive Democrats to support the tax increases. "I think when you get to the revenue issue, the question becomes what you want," he said, listing several of Democrats' goals for the bill. "I think it's going to be tough to say no to." Write to Andrew Duehren at andrew.duehren@wsj.com and Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com Democratic Centrists and Progressives Wrestle Over Biden Agenda Credit: By Andrew Duehren and Kristina Peterson |
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