A majority of the last year was focused on the Democratic struggle to pass a substantial social spending and climate change package known as the Build Back Better agenda, which toppled in the face of opposition from a Democratic senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Progressives argued the Build Back Better legislation was the real legislative prize for a White House and Congress controlled by Democrats, casting it as much more critical than a separate piece of legislation. This $1.4 trillion infrastructure bill did become law with GOP support. Some on the Left even threatened to vote against the infrastructure bill, which has complicated President Biden’s efforts to frame it as a significant achievement of his first year in office.
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That is not the sole disappointment for Democrats, who also failed to pass new voting rights legislation or a change to the filibuster rule in the Senate. Currently, that disappointment is biting the party in the behind. An NBC News poll released late last month showed 67 percent of Republicans insisting they had a high level of interest in the midterms. By comparison, 50 percent of Democrats said they had a high level of interest. An ABC News-Ipsos poll released April 10 found an even wider gap: 55 percent of Republicans said they are very enthusiastic about voting in the midterms, compared to 35 percent of Democrats who said the same.
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Some Democrats are sounding the alarm, warning that the party is in for a disappointing election season if it is unable to rally together and fulfill some high-profile promises to energize its base. “I think we need to get stuff done, and that’s the G-rated version of it. We really need to finish delivering on some big deal promises we made during the 2020 election, and on the ones we can’t deliver on because we don’t have 50 votes, then we need to be shown swinging the bat as hard as we can,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said this week on “Pod Save America.”
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In a New York Times op-ed, Warren encouraged President Biden to use his powers to cancel student loan debt and lower prescription drug prices. She wrote that Democrats in Congress should come together to close tax loopholes for the ultrawealthy and corporations.
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