Senate Democrats Republicans Prepare To Sell Nearly $1 Trillion Infrastructure Deal To White House
Congressional lawmakers are set to return to the Capitol on Monday facing a pivotal week for the future of infrastructure reform, as bipartisan negotiations continue and work proceeds to advance a flurry of bills to improve the nation’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections.
At the center of the debate is an infrastructure compromise brokered by 10 Senate Democrats and Republicans. The bloc, largely composed of moderates, faces the new, tough task of selling their deal to both fellow lawmakers and the White House, just days after talks between President Biden and another group of GOP leaders reached a political impasse.
“We’re talking to folks, one by one, and just asking folks to be open,” said Sen. Mitt Romney in advance of the new plan’s release.
Some Democrats already have expressed discomfort with the early details of the nearly $1 trillion, five-year package, arguing it should be bigger and more robust in scope. Republicans, meanwhile, signaled there may not be widespread support for it within their own party, either. The White House said at the end of last week it has “questions” about lawmakers’ approach, as fresh concerns emerged over the potential changes to the gas tax that could help finance the new proposal.
White House infrastructure talks with Capito collapse, leading to fingerpointing as Biden shifts strategy
Why Democrats Didn’t Take The Senate Despite Winning 11 Million More Votes Than Republicans
Although Republicans retained control of the Senate during this year’s midterm elections, Democrats actually earned about 11 million more votes.
Reported vote counts show that Democratic Senate candidates this year thus far have won roughly 44 million votes, whereas Republican Senate candidates have earned 33 million, per The Washington Post. That means about 57 percent of the total votes cast went for Senate Democrats. Despite those stats, Republicans managed to flip three seats, bolstering their majority.
Although it might initially sound galling that Democrats earned more votes but didn’t get the majority, there’s a reason for that: 35 Senate seats were on the ballot this year, and of those, 26 of them were held by Democrats, while only nine were held by Republicans. The fact that most of the seats up for re-election were Democratic made the party more vulnerable to suffer losses, which Sens. Heidi Heitkamp , Joe Donnelly , and Claire McCaskill did.
Opinionhow Can Democrats Fight The Gop Power Grab On Congressional Seats You Won’t Like It
Facing mounting pressure from within the party, Senate Democrats finally hinted Tuesday that an emboldened Schumer may bring the For the People Act back for a second attempt at passage. But with no hope of GOP support for any voting or redistricting reforms and Republicans Senate numbers strong enough to require any vote to cross the 60-vote filibuster threshold, Schumer’s effort will almost certainly fail.
Senate Democrats are running out of time to protect America’s blue cities, and the cost of inaction could be a permanent Democratic minority in the House. Without resorting to nuclear filibuster reform tactics, Biden, Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be presiding over a devastating loss of Democrats’ most reliable electoral fortresses.
Max Burns is a Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies. Find him on Twitter @themaxburns.
Incoming Biden Administration And Democratic House Wont Have To Deal With A Republican
Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff wave to supporters during a joint rally on Nov. 15 in Marietta, Ga.
Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have defeated Georgia’s two incumbent Republican U.S. senators in the state’s runoff elections, the Associated Press said Wednesday, in a development that gives their party effective control of the Senate.
Ossoff and Warnock were projected the winners over Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler by the AP following campaigns that drew massive spending and worldwide attention because the runoffs were set to determine the balance of power in Washington. The AP , at about 2 a.m. Eastern, then followed with the call for Ossoff over Perdue on Wednesday afternoon.
President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration and the Democratic-run House of Representatives now won’t face the same checks on their policy priorities that they would have faced with a Republican-controlled Senate, though analysts have said the slim Democratic majority in the chamber could mean more power for moderate senators from either party.
See:With sweep expected in Georgia Senate races, Democrats have high hopes for what Biden can do
“It is looking like the Democratic campaign machine was more effective at driving turnout than the Republican one,” said Eurasia Group analyst Jon Lieber in a note late Tuesday.
Warnock then made just before 8 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
Poll Shows Manchin Wildly Out Of Step With West Virginia Voters On Voting Rights Bill
A hail fellow well met
DP Veteran
A hail fellow well met
DP Veteran
roguenuke said:I think this is the most likely answer just in terms of the Senate races .The GOP seats are more likely to be in danger here than the Dem seats that are up but that doesn’t mean that there still isn’t risk, especially being so close.
A summer-long advocacy campaign to rally voters to support the For the People Act, a federal election bill.You can get involved by calling yourSenators at 888-453-3211 / and Zipcodeor any Senator??? Just get their Home Zipcode
With Control Of White House And Congress Democrats Have 2 Years To Make Big Changes
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U.S. Democrats secured unified control of the White House and Congress on Wednesday with the inauguration of President Joe Biden followed by Vice President Kamala Harris swearing in three new Democratic senators.
The three new senators bring the U.S. Senate to a 50-50 Democratic-Republican tie, with Harris as the presiding officer representing the tie-breaking vote.
With the U.S. House continuing under the leadership of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Biden begins his term with the opportunity to work with the two Democrat-controlled chambers to enact significant legislative changes.
As a result of the shifting political power on Capitol Hill, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has succeeded Republican Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader. The Kentucky senator, who served in the top leadership post for six years, was highly skilled at blocking Democratic legislation, as well as advancing former President Donald Trump’s judicial and administration nominees through the confirmation process.
Schumer acknowledged some of those challenges Wednesday in his first speech as majority leader.
“This Senate will tackle the perils of the moment: a once-in-a-generation health and economic crisis. And it will strive to make progress on generations-long struggle for racial justice, economic justice, equality of opportunity and equality under the law,” Schumer said.
Democrats Can Win In States We Now Consider Deep Red And Not That Long Ago They Did
The polls were promising; the money was pouring in by the tens of millions. From Maine to Alaska, Republican incumbents were facing losses that would turn the Senate blue. It was even tight in Kansas, which last sent a Democrat to the Senate in 1932.
Instead, after an election that saw incumbent after incumbent roll to victory by double-digit pluralities, and with Democrats needing two runoff wins in Georgia just to achieve a 50-50 tie that soon-to-be Vice President Kamala Harris would break, a familiar lament is circulating yet again: The Senate is, as Vox put it, inherently “anti-democratic” — and un-Democratic, making it all but impossible for the party representing a majority of voters to win power in the chamber. Only reforming the structure of the Senate, which gives each state the same number of senators no matter how many people live there, can fix this. wrote in 2018, and the Baffler made the same call this September.)
But in reality, the Senate isn’t quite the unsolvable problem that Democratic critics think it is. The chamber’s current Republican tilt is political, not structural — and it could be overcome without any changes to the Constitution. The Democrats just have to start winning elections.
Abolish the Senate. It’s the only way to rein in modern presidents.
Biden can still get things done with a Republican Senate. Here’s how.
Twitter: @greenfield64
Senate Democrats Advance Their ‘generational Transformation’ With Republican Help
– After passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill on a 69-30 vote Tuesday — 19 Republicans joining all the Democrats — the Senate worked into the early morning hours, finally passing a much larger, $3.5 trillion budget resolution, this time with only Democrat votes.
The budget resolution eventually will contain the Democrats’ plan for a “generational transformation” of the U.S. economy, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted early Wednesday morning.
“Senate Democrats just passed our budget resolution to provide historic investments in American jobs, American families, and the fight against climate change,” Schumer wrote. “It puts us on track to bring a generational transformation to how our economy works for average Americans.”
The budget resolution passed 50-49. It is the first step in the reconciliation process that may allow Democrats to ram through their entitlement/green energy agenda with only 51 votes.
Various Democrat-led committees will now write the actual language to be voted on in the next step of the reconciliation process.
Democrats have made it very clear that the bipartisan infrastructure bill will not come up for a vote unless the larger reconciliation bill passes. It’s an all-or-nothing package, two halves of Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” whole, in other words.
“They also have hundreds of billions of dollars in slush funds,” he continued:
When Will We Know If Democrats Or Republicans Control The United States Senate
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the chamber after a procedural vote to advance the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020.
– Could the Democrats pack the courts or get rid of the Senate filibuster during a Biden Presidency? Those topics were heavily debated during the run-up to the 2020 Election, but they may prove moot – even if Biden wins – with more Democratic losses in the Senate.
Republicans trounced Democratic challengers in crucial states but failed to lock down the seats needed to retain their tenuous majority as of Thursday. In fact, a clear picture of Senate control may not come until 2021.
One race in Georgia is headed to a January runoff. A second contest in Georgia and races in North Carolina and Alaska remain undecided, leaving the chamber now deadlocked 48-48.
“We’re waiting — whether I’m going to be the majority leader or not,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday.
If current leads in Alaska and North Carolina hold for Republicans, they will at least guarantee a 50-50 split. That scenario would allow the next vice president to serve as the tiebreaker on strictly partisan votes.
Nevada still to close to call in presidential race, votes still being counted in largest county
Republican control in the Senate would split power, making it more difficult for Biden or Trump to pass significant legislation without winning bipartisan support.
Eric Holder: There Is Still A Fight For Democrats Against Gop Gerrymandering
In McConnell’s Kentucky, for instance, Republicans are divided over how far to go during the upcoming redistricting process, which they control in the deep-red state. The more extreme wing wants to crack the Democratic stronghold of Louisville, currently represented by Rep. John Yarmuth. More cautious Republicans like McConnell are willing to settle for smaller changes that reduce Democratic margins while stuffing more Republican voters into hotly contested swing districts.
Make no mistake: McConnell’s caution isn’t rooted in any newfound respect for the integrity of our electoral process. Instead, Republicans are mainly worried about avoiding the costly and embarrassing court decisions that invalidated their most extreme overreaches and potentially turn the line-drawing over to the courts. So McConnell’s approach doesn’t reject partisan gerrymandering — it just avoids the type of high-profile city-cracking that could land the Kentucky GOP in federal court.
Who Is Richer Democrats Or Republicans The Answer Probably Wont Surprise You
Which of the two political parties has more money, Democrats or Republicans? Most would rush to say Republicans due to the party’s ideas towards tax and money. In fact, polls have shown about 60 percent of the American people believe Republicans favor the rich. But how true is that? can help you write about the issue but read our post first.
Opinionwe Want To Hear What You Think Please Submit A Letter To The Editor
For instance, in 2020, Yarmuth won his Louisville district with a comfortable 62.7 percent of the vote. By turning Yarmuth’s single district into portions of two or three new districts, Republicans could turn his safe blue seat into swing districts and safe Republican strongholds. But the naked politicking of that kind of move would invite dozens of court challenges from outraged Democrats and election integrity organizations, tying up GOP time and treasure in the middle of campaign season.
Yet relying on the Republican-aligned Supreme Court to find a remedy is a gamble that could just as easily backfire on Democrats. In the 2019 case Rucho v. Common Cause, the conservative majority ruled 5-4 that Congress, not the federal courts, must address partisan gerrymandering. As a result, half a dozen Democrat-filed federal cases were tossed out and the gerrymandered district maps allowed to stand. More outcomes like that would be catastrophic both for Democrats and democracy.
For now, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee is fighting back against Republican efforts in a flurry of high-profile lawsuits. The organization, chaired by former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., has said it is committed to countering the Republican plan to split up blue cities.
Privilege And Entitlement Starting On Third Base Is Deserving A Home Run
The elites of certain churches, universities, private schools or ethnicities may unconsciously accept their position as any crowned head assumed the “divine right of kings”. Growing up inside such an elite seems natural and right; those in power enable others like themselves. If they studied hard and played on the football team, compared to their classmates who did not work as hard, they know they are deserving. For one in that position, it’s a forgivable failure of imagination to not consider that the student across town who also worked hard and perhaps did not achieve the same SAT scores, may have often gone to bed hungry, may have surmounted far greater obstacles to achieve a lot – capacity and determination which should be counted in. The privileged may not see the distortions that benefit them. This is not confined to one party, one class, one ethnicity, one gender. Some of us simply benefit from a surfeit of privilege.
Off with their heads is not an answer. Possible answers include: wealth tax; higher marginal inheritance taxes; and crediting overcoming the privilege deficit, without demonizing people who won the birth lottery – a 21st-century rework of affirmative action.
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6. Their life experiences open the corruption door.
Democrats Got Millions More Votes So How Did Republicans Win The Senate
Senate electoral process means although Democrats received more overall votes for the Senate than Republicans, that does not translate to more seats
The 2018 midterm elections brought , who retook the House of Representatives and snatched several governorships from the grip of Republicans.
But some were left questioning why Democrats suffered a series of setbacks that prevented the party from picking up even more seats and, perhaps most consequentially, left the US Senate in Republican hands.
Among the most eye-catching was a statistic showing Democrats led Republicans by more than 12 million votes in Senate races, and yet still suffered losses on the night and failed to win a majority of seats in the chamber.
Constitutional experts said the discrepancy between votes cast and seats won was the result of misplaced ire that ignored the Senate electoral process.
Because each state gets two senators, irrespective of population, states such as Wyoming have as many seats as California, despite the latter having more than 60 times the population. The smaller states also tend to be the more rural, and rural areas traditionally favor Republicans.
This year, because Democrats were defending more seats, including California, they received more overall votes for the Senate than Republicans, but that does not translate to more seats.
However, some expressed frustration with a system they suggest gives an advantage to conservative-leaning states.
Us Senate Representation Is Deeply Undemocratic And Cannot Be Changed
Few, if any, other “democracies” have anything this undemocratic built into their systems.
The U.S. Senate, as you know, is currently divided 50-50 along party lines, thanks to the impressive double win in Georgia, and counting the two technically “independent” senators as Democrats, since they caucus with the Democrats.
But, according to the calculation of Ian Millhiser, writing for Vox, if you add up the population of states and assign half to each of their two senators, “the Democratic half of the Senate represents 41,549,808 more people than the Republican half.”
Millhiser’s piece is named after that fact: “America’s anti-democratic Senate, in one number.”
41.5 million. That’s a lot of people, more than 10 percent of the population . You might think that in a democracy, the party that held that much of an advantage might end up with a solid majority in the Senate, rather than have just barely eked out a 50-50 tie in a body that, taken together, represents the whole country.
Republicans have not won the majority of the votes cast in all Senate races in any election cycle for a long time. Nonetheless, Republicans held majority control of the Senate after the elections of 2014, and 2016 and 2018 and still, after the 2020 races, held 50 of the 100 seats.
GOP does better in lower population states
Works to the detriment of Democratic power
It’s deeply undemocratic. Nothing can become federal law without passing the Senate.
Smaller states had to be reassured
Democrat Jon Ossoff Claims Victory Over David Perdue In Georgia Runoff
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is expected to replace GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell as majority leader and will determine which bills come to the floor for votes.
The ambitious proposals addressing climate change and health care and other domestic priorities touted by Biden and Harris will be difficult, if impossible, to advance with more moderate Democrats — especially those facing competitive 2022 midterm reelection campaigns — reluctant to sign onto partisan proposals. The much smaller-than-anticipated House Democratic majority compounds the challenge for the party.
Instead, Biden will need to consider which domestic priorities can get bipartisan support since Senate rules now require anything to get 60 votes to advance. The president-elect has already indicated that additional coronavirus relief will be his first priority, but he has also said he plans to unveil an infrastructure plan that could get support from Republicans.
In a statement Wednesday, Biden said that “Georgia’s voters delivered a resounding message yesterday: they want action on the crises we face and they want it right now. On COVID-19, on economic relief, on climate, on racial justice, on voting rights and so much more. They want us to move, but move together.”
The president-elect also spoke to Democrats’ potential total control of Washington.
Senate Democrats Advance $35 Trillion Budget With No Republican Votes
Democrats in the Senate early Aug. 11 passed a $3.5 trillion budget framework with no support from Republicans, though its final passage isn’t assured.
The budget was advanced 50–49, with all votes in favor coming from Democrats or nominal independents who regularly vote with the left.
All Republicans voted against the budget except for Sen. Mike Rounds , who was at the Mayo Clinic with his wife, Jean, who is undergoing cancer treatments, he said on Aug. 10.
The budget was sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders , a self-described democratic socialist who is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
“This legislation will not only provide enormous support unprecedented in recent American history for the children in our country, for the parents in our country, to the elderly people in our country, to the working families of our country, but it will also, I hope, restore the faith of the American people in the belief that we can have a government that works for all of us and not just a few,” Sanders said on the Senate floor in Washington.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer added, “Senate Democrats just took a massive step towards restoring the middle class in the 21st century and giving Americans, more Americans, the chance to get there.”
The procedural vote followed hours of debate and consideration of amendments, starting on the afternoon of Aug. 10 and wrapping up shortly before 4 a.m. on Aug. 11.
Republicans denounced the budget, which has yet to be drafted.
Why Democratic Departures From The House Have Republicans Salivating
A growing number of Democrats in battleground districts are either retiring or leaving to seek higher office, imperiling the party’s control of the House and President Biden’s expansive agenda.
WASHINGTON — With 18 months left before the midterms, a spate of Democratic departures from the House is threatening to erode the party’s slim majority in the House and imperil President Biden’s far-reaching policy agenda.
In the past two months, five House Democrats from competitive districts have announced they won’t seek re-election next year. They include Representative Charlie Crist of Florida, who on Tuesday launched a campaign for governor, and Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, who will run for the Senate seat being vacated by Rob Portman. Three other Democrats will leave vacant seats in districts likely to see significant change once they are redrawn using the data from the 2020 Census, and several more are weighing bids for higher office.
An early trickle of retirements from House members in competitive districts is often the first sign of a coming political wave. In the 2018 cycle, 48 House Republicans didn’t seek re-election — and 14 of those vacancies were won by Democrats. Now Republicans are salivating over the prospect of reversing that dynamic and erasing the Democrats’ six-seat advantage.
“It’s like going to war on a battlefield but you don’t know where you’re fighting, when you’re fighting or who you’re fighting,” Mr. Israel said.
Democrats Hold $30 Million Ad Advantage In Battle For Senate Control
Democrats in crucial Senate races across the country are swamping the airwaves with ads in the furious battle for control of the chamber, far outpacing Republican spending as their party grows more bullish about their prospects for retaking the majority.
In battleground states nationwide, Democratic candidates and outside groups have been inundating the air with ads, promoting their records, seeking to distinguish themselves during their own competitive primaries and bashing the GOP senators whose seats they seek to occupy.
In 12 races that will determine the next Senate majority, Democrats have spent roughly $30 million more on the airwaves than their Republican counterparts, according to a CNN review of data from Kantar’s Campaign Media Analysis. In total, Democrats – including campaigns and outside groups – have spent $109 million on television, radio and digital advertisements, compared with $79 million for Republicans since the beginning of the election cycle last year, the records show.
While some of the disparity is due to Democrats attacking each other during the party’s primaries, both sides are keenly aware that Republicans have been outspent on the airwaves so far. Top Republicans expect the gap to close as the elections draw nearer.
“The entire business community and America’s job creators will all be on the Schumer menu next year,” he added.
Schumer, exuding his party’s growing confidence, told CNN last month: “We will win the Senate.”
What Limitations Will Senate Democrats Face In Passing Legislation
Most proposed legislation can be filibustered by members of the minority party, which means 60 members must agree to end debate and move the bill to a final vote.
The use of the Senate filibuster has become increasingly more common since the 1700s and is now a routine way of obstructing legislation. Concerns about increasing partisan gridlock have sparked debate over whether to reform the legislative filibuster, which would give the majority party vast authority to pass bills. During the recent filibuster debate between McConnell and Schumer, President Joe Biden remained silent on the issue. Other lawmakers in the past, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have called to do away with it.
But advocates for keeping the filibuster said it preserves power for the minority party. Removing the filibuster could also backfire on Democrats if they lose control of the Senate again. As of now, Democrats do not have the votes to end the filibuster but could also consider lowering the threshold, for example from 60 members to 55.
Senate filibuster use over time. Graphic by Danny Davis and Kate Grumke/PBS NewsHour.
“There are some very narrow rules around it. … It has to have budgetary implications. You can’t just stick on any random thing. It has to actually be pretty narrowly tailored,” Powell said.
Senate Democrats Ram $35 Trillion Budget Without Republican Vote
Democrats in the Senate presented a $3.5 trillion budget early Wednesday, with no support from Republicans.
The budget was passed 50–49, with all votes in favor of either the Democrats or nominally independents, who regularly voted with the Left.
All Republicans voted against the budget except Sen. Mike Rounds . He said Tuesday that he is at Mayo Clinic with his wife, Jean, who is being treated for cancer.
NS Budget Bernie Sanders , a self-described socialist who is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
“This law will not only provide support unprecedented in recent American history for the children in our country, for the parents in our country, for the elderly people in our country, for the working families of our nation, but also “I hope, restore the faith of the American people in the belief that we can have a government that works for all of us, not just some,” Sanders said on the Senate floor in Washington.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Senate Democrats have taken a major step toward restoring the middle class in the 21st century and giving Americans, more Americans a chance to get there.”
The passage began on Tuesday afternoon after hours of debate and voting on amendments to the budget and ended shortly before 4 a.m. on Wednesday.
The House of Representatives, which Democrats also control, is set to take measures during the week of August 23, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told aides this week.
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Are There More Democrats Than Republicans In The United States
I have been thinking about the Democratic Party and whether or not its members are more numerous than the opposing faction.
Evidence to suggest this is the case:
This suggests that the partisan lean the American electorate is about D+4. I believe that it might be closer to D+5 now for various reasons and the fact that 2012 was the mean result. This can get a little bit fuzzy because of independents.
If we look at opinion polling, Gallup has collated party affiliation polls back to 2004. The most recent poll at the time of writing gives a D+11 advantage. Looking just at the net Republican/Democrat advantage, ignoring Independents, we can create the graph below – with positive percentages representing a Democrat lead, and negative percentages representing a Republican lead.
To give a theoretical perspective on this:
Were Republicans Really The Party Of Civil Rights In The 1960s
With Republicans having trouble with minorities, some like to point out that the party has a long history of standing up for civil rights compared to Democrats. Democrats, for example, were less likely to vote for the civil rights bills of the 1950s and 1960s. Democrats were more likely to filibuster. Yet, a closer look at the voting coalitions suggests a more complicated picture that ultimately explains why Republicans are not viewed as the party of civil rights.
Let’s use the 1964 Civil Rights Act as our focal point. It was arguably the most important of the many civil rights bills passed in the middle part of the 20th century. It outlawed many types of racial and sexual discrimination, including access to hotels, restaurants, and theaters. In the words of Vice President Biden, it was a big “f-ing deal”.
When we look at the party vote in both houses of Congress, it fits the historical pattern. Republicans are more in favor of the bill:
80% of Republicans in the House and Senate voted for the bill. Less than 70% of Democrats did. Indeed, Minority Leader Republican Everett Dirksen led the fight to end the filibuster. Meanwhile, Democrats such as Richard Russell of Georgia and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina tried as hard as they could to sustain a filibuster.
Put another way, party affiliation seems to be somewhat predictive, but something seems to be missing. So, what factor did best predicting voting?
