Representative Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., is the leader of a group of centrist Democrats. She supported the domestic spending bill that the House of Representatives passed last week but said the infighting had complicated efforts to get the message across on the measure’s components.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty
hide captions
switch captions
Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Representative Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., is the leader of a group of centrist Democrats. She supported the domestic spending bill that the House of Representatives passed last week but said the infighting had complicated efforts to get the message across on the measure’s components.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Democrats in Congress are confident that President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda – the largest social safety net expansion in decades to include a series of programs aimed at addressing health care, child care, aged care and climate change – to be tickets to hold their majority in the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.
But the last time Democrats created a new government social safety net program – Affordable Care Act 2010 – backlash creates a red wave Republicans won 63 seats and took control of the House of Representatives.
However, Democrats say they have learned lessons from that debate. They are working to show all the ways they are delivering on their 2020 campaign promises and to get credit for an economy that has been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic. More importantly, they say they also have a networking time to talk about how broader federal reach will improve people’s lives in tangible ways.
Chris Carney thinks this time is different. He represented a red county in south-central Pennsylvania for two terms, but was one of dozens of Democrats who lost in 2010 after voting for the Affordable Care Act. He said when it came to voting on Biden’s agenda, he told NPR “it was an easy yes.”
He said back then Obamacare “wasn’t explained well.” He said Democrats “allowed the opposition to get out before the debate” and left them on the defensive.
But when it comes to what Congress has done over the past few months, Carney said the benefits would be easier to explain. Execute the first part of the program, bipartisan infrastructure bill that will fix potholes and make tunnels and bridges safer, will be easily recognizable in the community.
“When someone sees the road in front of their house improving – that they don’t blow their tires or align their fronts on potholes – when they know the bridge they’re crossing will be safe,” says Carney, “such peace of mind issues are so important to people every day. ”
The House of Representatives recently passed the second component of the agenda, domestic spending bill about 2 trillion dollars. But that is expected to change in the Senate, where West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., wants to drop four weeks of paid leave and other Democrats want to adjust as well.
Almost all Democrats in both houses agree on one thing: Reaching the finish line at the end of the year is crucial to their political fortunes in 2022.
Swing County Democrats introduce various parts of the agenda
Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., voted for Better Infrastructure and Rebuilding bills. However, she warned her team about trying to roll out too many new policies at once.
“I think we should pick a few things that are important to our members and do them well and do them sustainably and for the long term,” explains Murphy.
She says the battles inside the party also get complicated when the message is out. “It makes it difficult to communicate when there are Democrats attacking Democrats.”
But Murphy was quick to point out that some parts of the broader bill resonated with voters back home, saying, “I think my voters in Florida understand the impacts of climate change and the need to take action to address that problem.”
Unlike Carney, who died in 2010, Representative Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., voted for the ACA and survived that wave of elections. Still, he is a top GOP target in 2022 and hopes Republicans will nationalize the election again.
He said he plans to talk about his role in putting specifics on the bill. “I’ll be running on the prescription program I negotiated. I’ll be running on the bipartisan infrastructure package that I started with my problem-solving team. I think those are the winning messages, but you have to have the resources to get your message out,” Shrader said last week.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., argues that the situation in 2010 and the environment entering 2022 is different, highlighting the fact that Biden has been and is well on his way to promoting the agenda’s impact in some states.
“There is no substitute for the bully podium of the president of the United States,” Pelosi said last week.
President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the Highway 175 bridge over the Pemigewasset River to boost infrastructure spending on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, in Woodstock, NH
Evan Vucci / AP
hide captions
switch captions
Evan Vucci / AP
President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the Highway 175 bridge over the Pemigewasset River to boost infrastructure spending on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, in Woodstock, NH
Evan Vucci / AP
Selling hard infrastructure v. Human infrastructure
However, Democrats admit it is difficult to explain the immediate value of the elements of the climate and social spending bill. Programs like Universal Pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds and aged care are supported political spectrum, although some are not always in favor of government expansion.
Carney told NPR “government can, and at some point should, do big things to improve the overall health of the nation.”
Democrat who joined Congress in 2010 – and those who have heard about the political fallout in the decades since that debate – Saying the specifics sooner would be key before mid-term 2022.
House Democrats’ campaign team is pushing more than 1,000 events nationwide.
Kristin Hawn, Democratic strategist and partner at ROKK Solutions, worked for the Green Dog Coalition for Moderates in 2010 and told NPR that it’s better to explain the component parts of Build back action as soon as possible. better is how the Democrats come out of the messy process said to have dominated the past few months.
“We’ve always said that just explaining what you’re doing and you’ve lost the texting battle. That’s the tough part about legislation,” Hawn said. She says things like getting affordable health care if you have pre-existing conditions or letting adult children continue to follow their parents’ health care plans currently popular”, but we weren’t able to effectively announce it at the time and it was to our detriment. in the 2010 midterm elections.”
Hawn also notes that in 2010, there was a Tea Party movement that focused on the ACA, but also caused anger in Washington to spread further. She said people must be escorted out of town hall meetings when they are talking about things outside of the ACA. “It was violent at times. It was angry. And I think you have some of the same feelings here, certainly with former President Trump. ignite those fires and spark the anger and that anger is still out there. “
Texting is only part of the equation
Unlike Obamacare, Carney said, the Rebuild Better bill can be a powerful political weapon because Democrats can point to specific ways they are changing people’s lives. should be better. “I will continue to attack this. I will ask everyone who voted against it, why?”
The texting war about “Build Back Better” is in full swing with GOP Campaign Committee and Allies work to define it as a “wave of socialist spending” among voters.
Presidential standing low in the polls, and the historic trend of the ruling party losing midterm seats, could mean that this push is the Democrats’ last chance to enact major public policies for a while.
Hawn said the drop in approval ratings was a motivating factor to complete the full agenda before the end of the year. “The President is at the top of the table. And his numbers need to come out so that these candidates in the House can succeed in their re-election campaign or election.”
Carney said he knew the ACA was unpopular in his district prior to the vote, but was glad he voted yes.
“I’ve been able to take care of 33,000 other families and individuals. So it’s worth taking a seat,” he said.
Over time, the ACA became a political plus as more people joined. Democrats’ warning about the GOP’s efforts to scrap the law is key to their ability to regain a majority in 2018. In fact, Pelosi pushed to strengthen the ACA by ensuring that subsidies were included in the recent coronavirus relief bills renewed in the recent spending package.
Capitol Hill Democrats believe that the Build Back Better agenda can also turn into a political gain, and some argue that it was with things that work for everyone today like the child tax credit.
But as they work to avoid a repeat of 2010, Democrats are leaning on Biden to forcefully advertise the policies in the next year that will help the family and the economy.
