Democrats face few paths to victory in evenly divided Senate
WASHINGTON >> With elections in view and Democrats' headline domestic bill in a rut, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer have very different takes on how things are going in their chamber.
“I know we're spending the week dealing with assistant secretaries of something or other, and that's terribly important,” Sanders, the progressive firebrand and Vermont independent, said dryly on Wednesday. The Senate confirmed 15 nominees last week for the Federal Maritime Commission, judgeships and other posts.
“It has been a busy, productive and truly bipartisan week here,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the next morning. The New York Democrat cited a sexual harassment bill lawmakers approved minutes later and progress on addressing violence against women, the budget and industrial competitiveness.
The conflicting appraisals of how the party is using its time come as Democrats have run headlong into the limits of running a 5050 Senate with no votes to spare. It underlines a debate over how to balance passion with pragmatism as Democrats
court voters before the November elections, when Republicans have a real chance of capturing House and Senate control.
For some Democrats, it's time to draw contrasts with Republicans by forcing votes on priorities like helping families afford health care and combating global warming. Others see wisdom in declaring what victories they can and avoiding anything that might complicate efforts to strike deals with their own party's mavericks over broader priorities.
Democrats have just 49 votes for at least the next few weeks while Sen. Ben Ray Luján recuperates from a stroke. Yet even with the New Mexico Democrat, goals such as voting rights, immigration and other issues have faced solid Republican resistance and fallen short of the 60 Senate votes needed to approve most legislation.
For many Democrats, the big prize would be resuscitating a smaller version of President Joe Biden's lead domestic priority: a 10-year, roughly $2 trillion package of health care, family services and environment initiatives. Moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., effectively killed the measure in December when he said it was too costly but has said he's open to a more modest alternative.