Democrats press Biden to go it alone
PHILADELPHIA >> Top Democrats are pleading for President Joe Biden to act alone on some of the party's core legislative priorities, viewing executive action as their best hope of delivering on their promises and energizing liberal voters they worry are going to sit out the elections in November.
In areas like voting rights, police reform and immigration where Democratic bills have been thwarted by GOP opposition in the Senate, the leaders of the influential Black and Asian American caucuses made their requests directly to Biden during a recent meeting at the White House.
The pleas come at a particularly desperate moment for House Democrats, who are heading into a difficult midterm election season where the loss of only a handful of seats will end their majority. Biden's flagging poll numbers are adding to the steep headwinds Democrats are facing in a midterm election year that historically has been unfavorable to the party in power.
“I don't want anyone to think that we believe that executive action is better than legislation,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus.
“But certainly, there are a lot of areas where if we don't get legislation, the administration can take action to help move us more quickly towards the goals that we're working on.”
During the recent meeting with Biden, the caucuses' leaders seemed to acknowledge the damage done in recent months, when intraparty squabbling led them to many legislative dead ends.
The way to turn things around, argued Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty, Hispanic Caucus Chair Raul Ruiz and Asian American Caucus Chair Judy Chu — recalling the case they each made or will make to Biden — is for the president to put pen to pad.
“The Congressional Black Caucus has not been silenced for this,” Beatty said of the caucus' efforts to move forward with voting rights. “We know the value and importance of preclearance for us,” referring to the Voting Rights Act requirement that mandates states or localities with a history of racial voting discrimination get federal approval for election policy changes.
Jayapal and Ruiz told reporters that the Progressive and Hispanic caucuses will be releasing a list next week of their own priorities for executive action.
Reliance on executive action is a strategy that Biden knows well, having seen it in action when he was President Barack Obama's vice president. Facing a GOP-controlled Congress in 2014, Obama declared that he had a “pen and a phone” and began taking executive actions on matters like guns and immigration. Biden has acted unilaterally as well, most recently on a series of orders punishing Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.