Oft-divided Dems pushing for unity
It remains to be seen if this feel-good era is even sustainable
WASHINGTON — The infighting was so intense a year ago that Democrats who controlled both the White House and Congress couldn’t win support for a sweeping social spending package that was the party’s top legislative priority.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, was viewed skeptically enough that some fellow Democrats questioned the wisdom of him seeking reelection.
But speculation about Biden’s political future has quieted after Democrats outperformed expectations during the midterm elections. His toughest critics on the left are signaling they’ll work to help him secure a second term.
And last year’s dissent on Capitol Hill melted away over the past week as every Democrat voted — repeatedly — in support of New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for the House speakership. That was the type of showing Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California could only long for as he worked through 15 ballots over four bruising days before taking the gavel.
That unity is a shift for a Democratic Party built on fragile electoral coalitions that often begin to fray when it’s time to govern. But the dynamic was a tonic of sorts for lawmakers otherwise unhappy to be shifting to the House minority and spurred optimism that the party could stick together heading into the next campaign, when both Congress and the White House are at stake.
“It’s a very powerful feeling,” New Hampshire Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster said of Jeffries receiving every one of the 3,179 votes for speaker cast by his party’s
House members.
Of course, the unity may not prove sustainable.
President Joe Biden acknowledged on Thursday that a document with classified markings from his time as vice president was found in his “personal library” at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, along with documents found in his garage, days after it was disclosed that sensitive documents were also found at the office of his former institute in Washington.
Biden told reporters at the White House that he was “cooperating fully and completely” with a Justice Department investigation into how classified information and government records were stored.
Republicans have likened the situation to federal authorities’ probing of
former President Donald Trump keeping hundreds of such records at his Florida club.
Tensions could also come from fellow Democrats on policy issues like immigration, police reform, raising the minimum wage, expanding voting rights and better protecting access to abortion — all areas where the party’s progressive wing would like to see Biden and the establishment do more.
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution, said grassroots activists and elected officials around the country understand the strategic value of the party holding firm during so many House speaker votes. But he warned that it may not last.
“I don’t think this show of unity should create any illusion
that progressives are going to pull their punches,” Geevarghese said. “There’s an old organizing adage, ‘No permanent allies, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.’ ”
Still, former Democratic New York Rep. Steve Israel, who was a top Pelosi adviser, predicted that additional divisions within the House GOP would make it easier for Democrats to find common ground.
“I expect that House Republicans will pursue a vitriolic agenda that pleases their own base and that will keep Democrats united for the next two years,” said Israel, who now directs the Cornell University Institute of Politics and Global Affairs.
That’s a far cry from early last year, when Democratic congressional disagreements derailed Build Back
Better, an environmental and social spending proposal that was supposed to be the centerpiece of Biden’s domestic agenda.
The president later salvaged some of the package’s green energy and health care priorities via a major spending bill. He also scored key wins on a bipartisan infrastructure package, new gun safety regulations and bolstering U.S. technology manufacturing.
Democrats additionally made progress in expanding Medicaid for the poorest children, capping insulin prices for Medicare recipients and giving Medicare the ability to negotiate drug pricing — all of which seemingly satiated many progressives, at least for now.
The party did that despite having a House majority about as razor-thin as the
one that left Republicans unable to settle on a speaker for so long last week. Jeffries has also been part of the Progressive Congressional Caucus, but that hasn’t prevented other disagreements from surfacing.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., head of the progressive House caucus, has already co-authored a statement calling “unacceptable” a Biden administration announcement that it would continue enforcing Title 42, the emergency powers that allows officials on the U.S.-Mexico border to quickly turn away migrants, amid court orders.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also is gearing up for a primary challenge against incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who recently left the Democratic Party to become an independent.