Obstacles to the Democratic Agenda on Capitol Hill
Channel: R Street Institute
Date: 2021-11-22

Democrats won control of Congress and the presidency in last year’s elections. But they have since struggled to get their agenda through the House and Senate, where narrow majorities have exacerbated the party’s internal division between its moderate and progressive wings. As a result, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have double-downed on closed-door negotiations to resolve disagreements between progressive lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and moderate lawmakers like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Stephanie Murphy (D. Fla.) over key priorities like President Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal and the Build Back Better Act. Yet, those talks have not easily bridged the party’s internal divide. Congress took months to send the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the president’s desk to be signed into law, and it has yet to complete action on the Build Back Better Act. Moreover, the House and Senate have yet to address next month’s deadlines to fund the government and raise the nation’s borrowing limit.

Moderator:

Jonathan Bydlak, Policy Director, Governance, R Street Institute

Panelists:

James Wallner, Senior Fellow, R Street Institute
Molly Reynolds, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Matt Glassman, Senior Fellow, The Government Affairs Institute

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