The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)

Unity remains elusive in new era

- EJ Dionne Columnist

So much for unity. Sure, we all want to hope that Washington will suddenly work differentl­y, especially since President Biden is someone who — really, truly, deeply — loves to work with Republican­s when he can. In using his inaugural address to implore Americans to “stop the shouting and lower the temperatur­e,” he didn’t have to add his trademark “I mean that sincerely” for listeners to realize that, yes, he meant that sincerely.

But it took barely 24 hours for partisan obstacles to pop up as if we were watching a movie called “Republican Obstructio­n, the Sequel.”

Senate Democrats won their 49th and 50th seats in Georgia’s two runoff elections earlier this month, which gave them the majority with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. This meant that the Senate had to be reorganize­d to recognize the shift in control. The outlines of an organizing resolution were already there from the last time the Senate was split 50-50, in 2001.

That didn’t stop Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., from balking. He demanded that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promise that Senate Democrats wouldn’t challenge the filibuster rule for the next two years. The current filibuster rule means that most bills need 60 votes to pass. Essentiall­y, McConnell was telling Democrats to give up any power they might have to force action if the GOP persistent­ly blocked Biden’s initiative­s.

Even Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., who wants to keep the filibuster as is, backed Schumer’s effort to maintain the “leverage” that the threat of weakening or abolishing it could offer.

And it wasn’t just McConnell underscori­ng how hard it will be for Biden to bring bipartisan bliss to Washington. Two Republican Senators whom Democrats are counting on for at least some help over the next few years, Utah’s Mitt Romney and Maine’s Susan Collins, quickly announced their resistance to Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic rescue and stimulus package.

And just in case you wondered: Donald Trump may no longer be in the White House, but nativism is alive and well in the GOP. Thus the know-nothing reaction of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to Biden’s immigratio­n reform proposal. McCarthy pronounced himself “disappoint­ed to see within hours of assuming office, the new administra­tion was more interested in helping illegal immigrants than helping our own citizens.”

Not exactly the “love and healing” Biden extolled.

So, as Biden would say, here’s the deal. He and his party should, indeed, make every effort to negotiate with Republican­s to win what support they can get. Bipartisan­ship is great when it works. What they can’t afford, said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., in an interview, is the “long drawn-out process” that characteri­zed the party’s approach during the early Obama years on both an economic stimulus and health care.

This means being willing to move quickly to what is known as the reconcilia­tion process, which would allow passage of economic relief on a simple Senate majority.

“We should give Senate Republican­s a very short amount of time to signal if they want to be partners in moving the country forward, or if they intend to be obstructio­nists,” Van Hollen said. “And the early signaling is that they are reverting to their obstructio­nist mode.”

Reconcilia­tion rules are largely limited to bills involving money. Eventually, Democrats will have to take on the filibuster itself. They might do this piece-bypiece, if obstructio­n prevails on particular bills, notably democracy reform efforts.

Already, conservati­ves are preparing to characteri­ze any remotely progressiv­e proposals from Biden as evidence that he is moving “hard left.” Moderate Democrats should not take the bait - and the early signs are that they won’t.

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticu­t, one of the House’s leading middle-of-the-road Democrats, warns that since Republican­s offer few policies with broad popular support — “tax cuts for the rich are not particular­ly popular” — they will “have to reframe popular policies [offered by Democrats] as dangerous or socialist.”

The truth is that while Biden’s program is ambitious, there is nothing remotely radical in what he wants to do. The country will judge him less by whether Republican­s say nice things about his program than by what he gets done.

Himes defined the stakes clearly. “In a moment of crisis,” he said, “if we don’t deliver a reasonable proportion of our agenda, we get crushed.”

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States