US Congress back for frantic autumn with Biden agenda at stake

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers will dive into the busiest legislative period in years in the coming week, with President Joe Biden counting on a united front from Democrats to pass make-or-break spending bills that he hopes will improve his sagging approval ratings.

Facing stinging criticism over the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and a stubbornly elevated pandemic death toll, Biden is banking on going into next year’s midterm elections with historic economic reforms under his belt.

Avoiding a government shutdown is also at the top of the agenda, alongside dodging a catastrophic credit default, which may be the largest of the looming deadlines.

Democrats are hoping to secure a sweeping US$3.5 trillion social policy package through a process known as reconciliation, meaning the bill can pass with a simple majority in the evenly divided 100member Senate.

Without reconciliation, 60 votes would be needed in a procedural vote just to advance the legislation, which would require support from 10 Republicans.

The so-called “Build Back Better” package aims to tackle climate change, lower child care and education costs for working families, and create millions of jobs.

Biden said in a speech Thursday he was confident Congress would pass the plan, characterizing it as a moment that could “change the trajectory of our country for years or decades to come.”

Republicans are unsurprisingly dismissing the proposals as an example of out-of-control taxand-spend politics, but the real battle is playing out between moderate and progressive Democrats.

Worried about inflation and the national debt – 28.8 trillion and rising – centrist Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema oppose the high ticket price, although Manchin has indicated he may be open to a 1.5 trillion package.

“We don’t have the need to rush into this and get it done within one week because there’s some deadline we’re meeting or someone’s going to fall through the cracks,” Manchin, who represents West Virginia, told NBC.

Senate budget chairman Bernie Sanders, backed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, has drawn his own red line, telling CNN that any bill that falls below the US$3.5 trillion total is “absolutely not acceptable to me.”