BUILD BACK BETTER

Democrats aim to reset domestic legislative agenda after Biden speech

Richard Cowan / Reuters — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 13:31:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats this week will try to start salvaging the unfinished parts of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda and respond to voters' demands to address inflation while also bolstering high-tech jobs to compete with China.

Biden, in his State of the Union address last week, sketched out a more moderate path following a year of spending around $3 trillion to tame the COVID-19 pandemic and invest in infrastructure improvements.

It is up to the president and his fellow Democrats in Congress to figure out how to unite warring progressive and centrist wings of the party on a narrower series of domestic investments now that his $1.75 billion "Build Back Better" initiative is in ruins.

That sweeping measure would have recast American society, providing help for families to pay for child- and elder-care costs, subsidizing pre-kindergarten education and scores of other initiatives, such as renewing an expanded child tax credit for lower-income families.

Biden provided some pretty strong hints of where he now would like to see Congress move in the months leading up to the Nov. 8 elections that will determine whether his party maintains control of the House of Representatives and Senate.

Priorities include reducing the high cost of prescription drugs such as insulin, combating climate change through tax incentives to make homes and businesses more energy efficient while weaning Americans off of autos that guzzle ever-more-expensive gasoline and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for these initiatives.

In a Senate speech on Thursday, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, took Biden's lead in calling for "lowering costs while building on the wage and job growth" of the past year.

Senate Republicans, however, could stand in the way of some of these initiatives, challenging Democrats to use a special procedure known as "reconciliation" to pass legislation without their support.

Democrats will try to hash out the road ahead in annual retreats they are holding this week. Biden is expected to make his case to senators holding a retreat in Washington on Wednesday and on Friday at a final session of a three-day meeting of House Democrats in Philadelphia.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell.)

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As Ukraine conflict rages, Biden seeks to unite Americans in annual speech

James Oliphant and Trevor Hunnicutt / Reuters — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 13:31:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden, who has earned praise for his efforts to rally European allies and other nations against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, will turn to uniting Americans in the State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

With the conflict in Ukraine raging, Biden intends to use the annual speech to stress the importance of countering Putin and push his domestic economic agenda, including reintroducing elements of his stalled Build Back Better program, administration officials said.

"Every State of Union speech also reflects a moment of time," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday. Biden, she said, will detail his efforts "to rally the world to stand up for democracy and against Russian aggression."

Democrats are expected to have a difficult time holding control of the U.S. House of Representatives — and perhaps the Senate as well - in the Nov. 8 elections, analysts said, which would likely cripple Biden’s policy goals.

A rebound in Biden’s public standing would make the task of staying in power easier.

"The (speech) comes at a good time,” said John Geer, a political scientist and an expert in public opinion at Vanderbilt University. "He needs to grab the national stage and set a course that offers a brighter future."

Biden should tout his work helping the world resist Putin’s advances, Geer said, while celebrating the effectiveness of vaccines and other mitigation measures that have brought about a sharp decline in COVID-19 cases and easing of guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Public opinion polls have shown Biden out of favor with the majority of Americans for months. The most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, taken last week, showed him at 43% approval.

Even with the jobless rate at 4%, most voters remain pessimistic about the economy largely due to skyrocketing consumer prices. A quarter of Democrats think the party has failed to take advantage of its rare control of the White House and both houses of Congress.

While aides believe Biden's perceived strength in handling COVID helped him win the presidency, some voters, especially Republicans, think the country has not moved quickly enough to ease pandemic restrictions as case counts have fallen.

On Tuesday, members of Congress attending Biden's speech at the U.S. Capitol will not be required to wear masks for the first time in months, a sight that could provide helpful optics for the president.

U.S. ECONOMY, RUSSIA SANCTIONS

Biden must convince viewers at home that the economy is, in fact, in solid shape despite inflation concerns, and that tough sanctions imposed by the Washington and allies are worth the pain. Russia's invasion of Ukraine could cause gasoline prices to skyrocket in the United States, adding to the highest inflation rate in 40 years.

About two-thirds of Americans support Biden slapping Russia with economic sanctions over its incursion into Ukraine.

At the same time, security at home is an issue. Federal authorities are reinstalling fencing around the Capitol as Washington prepares for planned trucker protests inspired by demonstrations in Canada against pandemic-related restrictions.

Biden can also trumpet his $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was passed last year with some Republican support.

He likely will urge swift confirmation of his pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the high court.

Matt Bennett, vice president of Third Way, a moderate Democrat think tank, said that Biden should aim for a sweeping tone about U.S. leadership on the world stage and the economy.

"The most important thing,” Bennett said, “is that he shows America that he is in command of world and domestic events. No policy idea or accomplishment is going to make a real difference."

(Reporting by James Oliphant and Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by Steve Holland and Jason Lange; editing by Heather Timmons, Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Osterman.)

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White House retools strategy toward Sen. Manchin, with Biden agenda on the line

Jarrett Renshaw, Richard Cowan and Andrea Shalal / Reuters — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 13:14:15 GMT

WASHINGTON —White House officials are planning a more subtle approach to try to win pivotal Sen. Joe Manchin's support for a key part of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda, hoping that keeping matters private and avoiding public spats can help salvage the ambitious Build Back Better climate and social spending bill.

Biden last year won congressional passage of COVID-19 relief legislation and a sweeping infrastructure improvement bill with fellow Democrat Manchin's backing. But the West Virginia senator remains a significant roadblock toward getting some version of Biden's $1.7 trillion Build Back Better bill — passed by the House of Representatives in November — through the Senate.

With talks between Manchin and the White House expected to resume this week, Biden and his advisers are planning to rely on their revamped approach — keeping the progress of the talks more confidential and making greater use of the White House legislative team and Cabinet members, officials said.

A public tussle between Biden — a long-time former senator himself — and Manchin in recent months over the bill resulted in its prospects for passage slipping even as Manchin's public approval ratings in his home state rose and his fundraising haul grew.

"I just want to make sure we find a balance and do something we can afford," Manchin told reporters on Monday, referring to the Build Back Better legislation.

Biden in December said that he and Manchin would "get something done" on the bill.

Manchin's vote is crucial for Biden by virtue of simple mathematics. The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Biden's party controlling it only because Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote. That means any measure that can pass with a simple majority must attract Manchin's support if Republicans remain united in opposition as usual.

Manchin, considered the Senate's most conservative Democrat, previously served as governor of West Virginia, a very Republican state. He surprised Biden and presidential advisers when he announced in December he would not support the bill, later blaming White House staff. Manchin also dealt his fellow Democrats a setback on major voting rights legislation.

The White House needs to win over a second holdout Democrat, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, as well. Manchin's December announcement followed weeks of calls and meetings between him, Sinema and Biden - with the White House giving blow-by-blow details to an eager Washington press corps.

'NOT GOING TO SPEAK'

This time, the White House plans not to disclose much about Biden's conversations with lawmakers, including Manchin.

"We're just not going to speak to or confirm any conversations the president has with members of the Senate, moving forward," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week.

The change appears to be a tacit admission that Manchin had sometimes been mishandled by the White House. At the same time, some Democrats in Congress and some at the White House consider Manchin an unreliable negotiating partner, saying he has agreed on certain provisions in the past only to later renege.

"Senator Manchin clearly articulated his policy concerns with Build Back Better which are rooted in rising inflation, the ongoing pandemic and the geopolitical uncertainty around the world," an aide to the senator said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A Biden administration official, also speaking on condition of anonymity about Manchin, said the White House needs to "stand in his shoes politically and be willing to understand and appreciate the variables of what it means to represent a state like West Virginia."

Republican then-President Donald Trump won West Virginia against Biden by 39 percentage points in 2020 — among his largest margins in any state — while losing nationally.

Manchin, first elected to the Senate in 2010, comfortably won the Democratic primary during his 2018 re-election bid before winning the general election by 3 percentage points, showing he has little margin for error if he wants to be re-elected in 2024.

He managed to raise nearly $5 million in political donations last year versus less than $1 million in 2020, Federal Election Commission records showed, including from Republican donors.

West Virginia, a state of 1.8 million people, ranks among the lowest in the United States in various health and education categories — areas the legislation at issue would address. It would provide billions of dollars for the healthcare industry and universal pre-kindergarten education.

Manchin remains open to talks on a significant spending bill and his relationship with Biden is solid, said a source familiar with the senator's thinking, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Congressional Democrats are hoping for a Build Back Better agreement before Biden's State of Union address, set for March 1.

"We are in touch with a wide range of members working to pass the president's economic growth plan for the middle class, which you heard a number of top business executives speak in support of," said White House spokesman Andrew Bates, referring to Biden's meeting with CEOs last week. "Anyone purporting to share our strategy with regard to any lawmakers is not speaking for the White House."

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Andrea Shalal, Richard Cowan; editing by Will Dunham and Heather Timmons.)

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