House Republicans and Biden: Early-Stage Strategies for a Bipartisan New Reality in the House of Representatives from 2020 – A Theoretical Analysis
Yet at Biden’s direction, White House officials have quietly engaged in early-stage preparations for the new reality on Capitol Hill, homing in on two key groups as they search for issues that can draw bipartisan support: moderate Republicans with a proven track record of working across the aisle and the incoming class of freshmen Republicans who flipped districts Biden won two years earlier.
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 be warfare instead of tight-rope walks. 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.
The incoming New York Republican lawmakers are seen as a priority for Democrats by the White House because they will be under more pressure than other Republicans to reach bipartisan deals.
While Republicans flipped the House, they did so with a mere four seat advantage on the backs of candidates who were hardly acolytes of former President Donald Trump. Several represent districts that voted for Biden in 2020.
During his time as Vice President under President Barack Obama, Biden was an important player with the GOP and was elected in part on the promise of finding common ground.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/politics/house-republicans-white-house-bipartisan/index.html
The first two years of Congress have been busy. The White House is looking forward to what the next steps are going to (finally) bring
Officials said the preparations were in the early stages. The main focus of closing out the final days of unified power in Washington, DC, remains the passing of the annual defense policy bill and a bipartisan spending agreement that includes significant new funding to assist the Ukrainian war effort.
There’s also the issue of the makeup of the new House majority itself, with Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican expected to be the next speaker, firmly in the grips of his own intraparty battle to secure the votes for that ascension. McCarthy met with Biden a few weeks after the election at the White House, after which he spoke to Biden by phone.
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.”
There is a reason for House Republicans to be wary about engaging in discussions about speakership because of the continued uncertainty.
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.
The American Rescue Plan and his $700 billion economic and climate law are two of Biden’s most consequential legislative wins, and they took on a level of salience when officials confronted a landscape that has closed the door on the Democrat only legislative pathway.
“As I have throughout my career, I’m going to continue to work across the aisle to deliver for the American people. And it’s not always easy, but we did it the first term,” Biden said in his post-midterm election news conference last month. I will work with my Republican colleagues. The American people have made clear, I think, that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well.
It is expected that the White House will communicate with the newly elected members. 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. The president has driven a clear way in which we approach the importance of these relationships. That will be seen in the next Congress.
A pair of incoming New York Republicans, Reps.-elect Anthony D’ sicas and Micheal Lawler, said they are both interested in working with the White House to pass legislation.
The House Republican leader assured him they understand the need for bipartisanship and that there will be times when Long Island’s members might have to vote in favor of things that are important to 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. “The objective should be to make sure that we are working as a conference to pass legislation that the conference can get behind and that has the best chance of passing the Senate and being signed by the White House.”
“I get the Trump focus and I get the Freedom Caucus focus,” one House Republican told CNN of the former president and the hard right group of House Republicans who hold significant 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.”
Even if the White House can convince enough Republicans to buck their party on key bills, the speaker of the House controls what legislation comes up for a vote in the chamber. Recent House GOP leaders have attempted to stick close to an unofficial idea that nothing should move forward without a “majority of the majority” in support of the measure, though the approach was often scrapped in times of crisis or must-pass legislative moments.
A senior White House official declined to say whether the White House would focus on trying to strike bipartisan agreements with Republican leadership or try and peel off moderate Republicans through the use of discharge petitions, calling those decisions premature.
The Biden ‘2024’ Campaign: Rejoining House Democrats and the American Way to Do What We’ve Learned
President Biden and House Democrats are going around the country to remind voters of what they’ve already accomplished, by taking their legislative record on the road and into districts. The chamber will need a few seats to regain control next year.
“If we did nothing — nothing — but implement what we’ve already passed and let the people know who did it for them, we win,” Biden said during an energetic speech Wednesday as House Democrats kicked off their annual three-day retreat in Baltimore.
The reality of divided government means it’s unlikely Democrats will pass any major legislation, forcing them to instead go on the defensive and tout the legislation they’ve already passed.
“Folks, you all know how much we’ve gotten done, but a lot of the country still doesn’t know it,” Biden said. The biggest job in front of us is to implement the laws we passed so that people get all the benefits that are there.
The Ohio lawmaker said that the accomplishments can be “really resonated” with the everyday person, thanks to the way that they were rolled out.
“You tell us what you need to help us understand the impact that it’s having on all of your district and your folks, and we’re going to get it done,” Biden said.
Although Biden hasn’t officially announced his reelection bid, it’s widely expected he will seek another term, which means his fate and those of House Democrats are likely tied together.
“It may be a lower-level official that’s coming in talking about ‘let’s have a roundtable with your town officials to talk about how to apply for rural broadband funding.’ “It could be that the president isn’t coming every week,” said New Hampshire’s Ann Kuster.
Kuster said members are in close talks with the White House about how they can work together on legislation like the infrastructure bill.
How do you tell that story? “It’s by working together, having Cabinet members and officials from the government come to our districts.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/04/1160590678/biden-house-democrats-2024-election-campaign
Taking the dough: Making a difference in your life by connecting with your tax dollars and talking to your neighbors about bridges and interstates
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.
“Those are the kinds of stories that people stop to think ‘ Oh, I have a better commute’ or ‘Oh, I’m working from home because I have better internet service.’ We’re making that connection to your tax dollars because we’re making a difference in your life.
During his speech, Biden brought out a mock-up of a sign for an infrastructure project in Baltimore to rebuild a tunnel. There are caps with words on them such as ” President Joe Biden.”
“As we start to see more shovels in the ground, as we start to see more cranes in the air, we can start to point to that and say, ‘Hey, that’s what 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 have a difference with Republicans who voted no but want to take the dough,” she said. Many of my Republican colleagues who voted against historic pieces of legislation want to claim credit. We can’t let that happen.
Kuster said that they were right in the middle of one of the more challenging political debates. “Now, those battles are behind us — we have come out the other side. And now we’re having wonderful conversations 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
The CPC is preparing an executive action agenda: Preparing it for the President’s retreat and not vetoing D.C.’s new crime law
The Congressional Progressive Caucus is preparing an executive action agenda, which they will present to the president after their own retreat, said Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the caucus.
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.”
The conference was marked by strong support of the president, but news of his decision not to veto a GOP effort to repeal D.C.’s new crime law broke during a press conference on Thursday.