The great uniter-in-Chief has turned out to be the divider-in-Chief, with no ability to bridge the widening gaps in the country or in Congress, his own backyard. For a man who spent decades on Capitol Hill, as a Representative and a Senator, he seems completely unable to navigate the waters and bring together various groups within his own party. It’s embarrassing, in many ways, since Democrats control government right now, that no major part of Biden’s agenda seems anywhere close to passing.
Part of the problem is that Biden has made too many promises to too many parts of his base. Progressives held their nose, voted for him, and now they want payback in the way of trillions in spending and fundamental alterations to the American economy. It’s so chaotic right now, there are Senators tossing out ideas like the proposed “billionaires tax” only to have it shot down hours later in negotiations.
Even Democratic voters are disgusted by the Congress they elected, which has hit its lowest approval numbers of 2021:
Congress’ approval is low because hardly any Republicans (5%) and relatively few political independents (22%) offer positive reviews of the legislative body, at the same time that Democrats’ approval has plunged to its lowest level in 2021 — now 33%, down from 55% in September.
It’s chaos within the splintered and confused Democratic Party, a party that spent four years fighting President Trump at every turn calling him inexperienced. Now, however, Democrats can’t seem to negotiate their way out of a paper bag among their own members:
President Joe Biden’s party has spent months fighting over what to include in legislation forecast to spend at least $1.5 trillion over 10 years – less than half the initial $3.5 trillion target – with moderates and progressives divided over issues including taxes, prescription drug pricing, family leave, climate change and immigration.
Negotiations also have held up passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that passed the Senate with the support of 19 Republicans, as the House of Representatives’ large progressive caucus has refused to vote on it until the bigger deal is reached.
The leader of the 95-member Congressional Progressive Caucus and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were at odds on Tuesday on whether to try to vote on infrastructure this week, before a Biden trip out of the country.
The root problem here is business-as-usual politics in Washington. Want to pass a spending bill? Let’s tack on amnesty and call it “human infrastructure.” It’s a massive $3.5 trillion steeming piece of trash that House Democrats are trying to push on a country and electorate that simply doesn’t want it.
Biden can’t even unite his own party around this boondoggle, and somehow he then expects to sell it to the American people if something somehow ends up passing. Democrats created a self-imposed Oct. 31 deadline to get something done, but it doesn’t appear as though that will happen either.
In many ways, practically every way, it’s better than nothing gets done. No matter what they pass, it will be filled with billions of dollars in wasteful spending and more advancement of a progressive anti-American agenda on a country that is still in the midst of a nascent Covid-19 recovery.
For whatever it’s worth Biden will be meeting with Hosue Democrats today in an attempt to use his unmatched wit and charm to get a deal made before he heads out of country:
President Joe Biden is expected to attend a Thursday morning meeting with all House Democrats shortly before his trip to Europe in a last-minute push to get progressives to vote for a stalled bipartisan infrastructure bill, two sources familiar with the plans told NBC News.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is aiming to hold a vote Thursday on the $550 billion measure, but progressives have insisted that a larger social safety net bill proceed alongside the Senate-passed infrastructure package. Democrats, however, have yet to finalize the social policy bill due to sharp disagreements between moderates and progressives.
Watching the denial play out among Democratic voters is the most delicious part of this mess. They voted to put the “adults” back in charge, and yet its total chaos on Capitol Hill and Biden’s list of scandals expands by the day. The economy is in shambles, no member of the administration knows what “supply chain” means let alone has ideas to fix it, and Afghanistan is still a smoldering disaster with hundreds of Americans still trapped there.
With all this going on, Terry McAuliffe is trying to sell himself to Virginia voters, and failing.
Why is Joe Biden so incompetent as the leader of his party and leader of the country? It truly is shocking that nothing has gotten done in Congress, only childish infighting among Democrats. Biden hasn’t been able to pull any level to move anything along.
It’s probably for the better since Congress is good at spending taxpayer money on things that don’t benefit most taxpayers. The longer they sit and squabble, the safer the American people will be, and our money.
