If it passes, a new energy and healthcare bill could change perceptions of President Joe Biden's struggling administration.
An 11th hour hope for Democrats |
The big story in Washington this week will be Democrats' efforts to pass their surprise climate change and health care bill in the Senate.
The bill could change perceptions of President Joe Biden's struggling administration. (Biden just tested positive for Covid-19 again, in an apt metaphor for a White House term that is forever exiting one crisis only to plunge into the next.) If it passes and then gets through the House -- along with nearly $370 billion in spending to combat global warming and build a new clean energy economy -- the bill will instantly make Biden the most significant president ever in the fight to save the planet. That's a decent legacy in itself.
The bill also includes a plan to lower prescription drug prices, expand Affordable Health Care Act subsidies and cut the deficit while raising taxes on big corporations. Along with a new law to boost domestic semi-conductor manufacturing — partly aimed at competing with China — the proposed measure offers an 11th hour boost for Democrats three months before midterm elections.
It was only possible because the mercurial West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who has blocked much of Biden's agenda, suddenly reversed course in a deal with Democratic majority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer. Manchin got some carrots, including the opening of new oil leases on public lands. To the satisfaction of his often-overlooked state, Manchin also gets to parade as the most powerful man in Washington: Without his 50th vote in the Senate, all legislation is doomed. On Sunday, Manchin performed "a full Ginsburg" — appearing on all five major Sunday talk shows in a feat named after Monica Lewinsky's lawyer who did it to talk about President Bill Clinton's affair with the White House intern.
A big Democratic win isn't certain yet. Another hard-to-read party member, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has yet to sign on. The passage of the shrewdly named "Inflation Reduction Act" also may not mean that Biden can escape historic trends that show first-term presidents usually get shellacked in midterm elections. His terrible approval numbers and the high cost of living still threaten to drag his party down.
But making historic investments in climate change prevention and health care could help fix one of Democrats' worst problems: a sense among progressives that the party squandered control of the White House and Congress without passing lasting reforms. So far, that sense of frustration has threatened to depress turnout and make an expected Republican rout even bigger in the midterms. But if the bill passes, even Democrats resigned to losing the House have a reason to hope to cling to the Senate.
|
|
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment