Biden and the House Democrats have a track record in the legislature
Bipartisan strategies for the White House: Biden’s first two years as vice president and a key player in the Republican-controlled House
While the contours of the White House’s strategy and some of its targets are coming into view, officials are still determining the exact steps they will take to reach their objectives – and they are waiting to see exactly what dynamic they will face in the House next year.
Officials acknowledged the sweeping legislative wins of President Joe Biden’s first two years, several of which were clinched with bipartisan support and significant work with a small number of Senate Republicans, will be near impossible to replicate given the control and ideological makeup of the Republican-led House.
The basic tasks of a functioning government will become high-stakes standoffs. Spending battles will shift from arduous tight-rope walks to outright warfare. And the looming debt ceiling deadline next year and the potential for catastrophic debt default drew enough concern from White House officials that they weighed a push to address it in the current Congress to take it off the table entirely.
Those lawmakers will make up the core of any White House effort to secure the bipartisan wins that officials said Biden is keenly interested in pursuing in the two years ahead. They will also be key to any White House hopes of scuttling Republican bills in the House and attempts to squeeze House GOP leadership on key issues.
Instead of the “red wave” predicted by Republicans, however, Biden’s party expanded its Senate majority and stunned House Republicans – and many Democrats – by nearly fighting to a draw in the chamber.
During his time as vice president, Biden was often a key player with Republicans, as well as being the one who elected him in part because he promised to find common ground with Republicans.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/politics/house-republicans-white-house-bipartisan/index.html
Communicating with Congress: The Journey of Kevin Biden and the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. Towards Unification
The preparations for the months ahead remain in the early stage, officials said. The central focus is to ensure the passage of the defense policy bill, as well as a bipartisan measure to close loopholes in the electoral college, in order to close out the final days of unified power in Washington, DC.
Kevin McCarthy is the leader of the Republican Party that is expected to be the next speaker of the House and his battle to win support for that ascension is something that the new majority is grappling with. The California Republican received a call from Biden shortly after the election and he was one of four leaders to meet with the Vice President at the White House.
McCarthy, after the meeting, told reporters he “can work with anyone,” but noted the new Republican majority clinched in the midterms signaled “America likes a check and balance.”
But the continued uncertainty across Washington about McCarthy’s pathway to the speakership has tacitly created another reason for what serves as somewhat of a wait-and-see posture in terms of engaging House Republicans.
After two years of seeking out ways to connect Biden, a 36-year Senate veteran with a keen awareness of the importance of even the smallest of priorities back home for elected officials, to rank-and-file members from both parties, the effort will to some degree track and expand on what officials leaned on in their first two years.
But as officials confront a landscape that has closed the door on the Democrat-only legislative pathway that led to two of Biden’s most consequential legislative wins – the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and his cornerstone $700 billion economic and climate law – those efforts take on a new level of salience.
“The option is get absolutely nothing done or find a way to make this work,” a House Democrat told CNN. It isn’t easy to separate the inevitable partisan warfare from the areas we can get done, but I can’t see two years of nothing appealing to someone like Biden.
The preparation for the election is expected to lead to an outreach from the White House. Each member of the White House’s legislative affairs team is charged with liaising with a list of individual members and at least one committee, a senior White House official said.
“We’re content to let them shoot at one another at the moment,” a senior administration official said. “We have a record and, driven by the president, very clear way in which we approach the importance of these relationships. That will be reflected in the next Congress.
A couple of incoming New York Republicans, Anthony D’Esposito and Michael Lawler, are eager for the chance to work with the White House to pass legislation.
D’Esposito said House Republican leaders have assured him they understand the need for bipartisanship to hold onto the majority in 2024 and “that there are going to be times where perhaps the members from Long Island have to put their vote in support of things that are going to deliver for Long Island.”
“When you have a small majority, everybody is empowered to a degree,” said Lawler, who defeated House Democrats’ campaign chief in suburban New York. To make sure that the legislation we pass as a conference is the best chance of passing the Senate and being signed by the White House was the objective.
The House Republican told CNN that he gets the Trump and the Freedom Caucus focus because they hold a lot of sway inside the conference. “But we go nowhere without our freshmen – and while I’m not sure they’ll use it, that creates very real leverage.”
Despite a fractured incoming majority, which still doesn’t include a member with enough support to keep the speakership, there are major limitations on legislative efforts ahead in the House.
A senior White House official did not say if the White House would try and strike bipartisan agreements with Republican leadership or if it would peel off moderate Republicans through discharge petitions.
The Biden-House-Democrats-2024-Electron-Campaign: The Congressional Record as a Tool for Making Legislate Accessible to the Public
President Biden and House Democrats are pushing their legislative record across the country to remind voters of what they’ve accomplished. The seats need to be flip to regain control of the chamber next year.
“If we didn’t do something, but did something already done, then we would lose,” Biden said during an energetic speech Wednesday as House Democrats began their annual three-day retreat in Baltimore.
Democrats are unlikely to pass any major legislation, and they will have to use the legislation they already passed as a way of pushing their case.
“Folks, you all know how much we’ve gotten done, but a lot of the country still doesn’t know it,” Biden said. The job in front of us is to make sure the laws we have are followed, so as people see how beneficial they are, they start to see it in their lives.
“We have a buffet of accomplishments to offer, and he just rolled them out in such a way that it can really hit home with the average person,” Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown said.
You tell us what you need to help us understand what is happening and we’ll get it done,” Biden said.
Although Biden hasn’t officially announced his reelection bid, it is widely assumed that he will seek another term, which means that the fate of House Democrats will likely be tied together.
A lower-level official may be talking to town officials about how to apply for rural broadband funding. It may not be having the Cabinet or the president in your district every other week,” New Hampshire Rep. Ann Kuster told NPR.
Kuster said members have been talking with the Cabinet officials and the White House about how they can work together to make complex legislation more accessible to their communities.
“How do you make that real; how do you tell that story?” she mused. Cabinet members and officials from the government come to our districts if we work together.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/04/1160590678/biden-house-democrats-2024-election-campaign
How Did Democrats Get What You Want? An Empirical Perspective on the Issues of Mayor Biden and the House Democrats 2024 Election Campaign
As an example, she points to visits in her district from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg showing new bridges under construction and White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu highlighting a new interstate interchange.
People stop to think of those kinds of stories. Oh, I have a better commute’ or ‘Oh, I’m working from home because I have better internet service.’ We’re making a connection to your tax dollars with hard work and a change in your life.
Biden showed off a sign for the Baltimore tunnel project during his speech. At the top in all caps are the words “President Joe Biden.”
“If we start to see more shovels in the ground, and more cranes in the sky, we can start to point to that and say that Democrats did for you,” she said.
Democrats in Baltimore repeatedly talked about the need to make sure their constituents know who voted — and didn’t vote — for federal dollars on infrastructure.
“We still draw the contrast between Republicans who voted ‘no’ but still want to take the dough and Republicans who voted ‘no’ but still didn’t want to take the dough,” she said. “I am already seeing a number of my Republican colleagues who voted against these historic pieces of legislation want to claim credit. We can’t allow that to happen.
Kuster said “we were right in the middle of one of the more challenging political debates and discussions about strategy and timing.” “We have come out of the other side, now, those battles are behind us.” We’re talking about how to help the American people in their day to day lives.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/04/1160590678/biden-house-democrats-2024-election-campaign
PRESIDENT JAYAPALA: THE CPC’S POWER TO START UP AND EVIDENCE FOR BIDDEN’S DARK COLLISION
Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the group is preparing an “executive action agenda” to present to the president following their own retreat.
Jayapal told reporters that while “nobody is surprised that Biden was not my choice in the first election for the primary,” the CPC and the administration have formed an “incredibly strong partnership.”
There was a brief interruption in the conference, when news of Biden’s decision not to use his veto power to block the repeal of D.C.’s crime law broke during a press conference.
