Obstacles to the Democratic Agenda on Capitol Hill
When: November 18 2021 12:00-1:00PM
Where: Virtual
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
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.
Join us for an online event in which our panelists will discuss the obstacles they see to Democrats’ enacting their agenda in the House and Senate.
