not so fast
Most agreed that the dismal election results underscored the need to move past the infighting that’s defined their majorities for months. There’s hardly any agreement on much else.
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Asked if McAuliffe’s loss would affect Democrats’ agenda, Pelosi told reporters: “No, no.”
House Democrats had nearly settled their plans to include immigration reform in President Joe Biden’s social spending plan as polls were closing in Virginia. But by Wednesday morning, with Democrats defeated in the Old Dominion, panicked moderates were demanding key changes to that agreement — unwilling to take a politically toxic vote on a policy doomed in the Senate
It’s one of the first signs of a centrist wing newly emboldened to assert itself as the driver of Biden’s agenda after Tuesday night’s glaring defeat in a once-blue stronghold. And as some Democrats argued that stalling on the party’s social spending bill had hurt their election prospects, the most powerful moderate in the building said the opposite was true and that voters are “scared to death.”
“The message that was really sent, if we’re going to do something let’s do it right. Let’s make sure that people know what’s in it,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), dismissing most of his party’s new urgency. “We’re talking about revamping the whole entire tax code. That’s mammoth, totally. We’ve had no hearings, no open hearings. You haven't been able to sit and listen to a hearing. None of us have.”
Democrats’ Virginia drubbing has has added fresh resolve to the push by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team for quick passage of key Biden priorities. But she and other Democratic leaders have to contend with the wreckage of the election, as progressives and centrists angrily point fingers over their party’s loss in a state Biden won by 10 points, with each side insisting that the other’s political antics have stalled the president’s agenda.
"Lack of movement simply reinforces the misconception that we’re doing nothing,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said after the Virginia election. “Disappointed but not surprised,” added Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), summing up his mood Wednesday morning.
“I think the protracted endless negotiations have taken their toll on our party,” Durbin added. “If anything, this is a shot across the bow, fair warning to all of us that we should be producing responses to America’s needs on a timely basis and selling our message.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said a victory on either of Biden's bills — but particularly infrastructure — would have helped lift McAuliffe. Asked what Democrats should have done differently, Hoyer said: "Pass the bill ... BIF in particular, and the Build Back Better."
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said passing the infrastructure bill “would have made a huge difference” for Democrats on Election Day this year.
“We saw a wave,” Tester said. “Message sent, we’ll receive it.”
"There is no way that you can say that a 12 point swing in a state is due to Congress not passing one bill," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told reporters. "I think we were already in high gear. But if there's a higher gear, we certainly went into it."
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