Top House Dem Hakeem Jeffries Unveils Plan to Beat Back Progressive Rebellion,as Vulnerable Senate Dems like Raphael Warnock try to run as tax-cutters

[basquebromance]

Hakeem Jeffries, despite being a member of the Progressive Caucus, is circling the wagons on behalf of the party's most conservative members

Why does it sometimes feel like the Democratic Party establishment works harder to fight against working class nurses, bartenders, community organizers, and principals running for office than making sure Republicans don’t take back the House?

Exclusive: Top House Democrat Unveils Plan to Beat Back Progressive Rebellion

House seats and political power are on the line as progressives challenge incumbents in a string of contested Democratic primaries.

www.rollingstone.com

Vulnerable Senate Dems try to run as tax-cutters

They're pitching gas tax holidays and other pocketbook-friendly plans to combat GOP messaging on inflation. But any real proposal has a long way to go.

www.politico.com

 

[basquebromance]

excerpts:

A pack of progressive candidates have crashed this year’s Democratic primaries, hoping to unseat incumbents and push the party to the left. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the fifth-ranking Democrat in the House, has other plans.

Jeffries and two of his House Democrat allies on Wednesday rolled out the first slate of endorsements from Team Blue PAC, a political action committee intended to protect incumbents from intraparty attacks. The endorsements and their attendant $5,000 campaign contributions are the strongest demonstration of support yet from Jeffries and his allies — and serve as a warning shot to primary challengers seeking to unseat incumbents as Democrats fight to hold onto their fragile majorities.

The primary challengers and their allies see things differently — and think Jeffries and his allies should take a different tack in protecting their majority. “It is extremely alarming that critical resources from Democratic Party leadership are going to protect incumbents from having to face any competition in deep-blue districts instead of protecting the swing seats we’re in danger of losing in November,” says Waleed Shahid, the communications director of Justice Democrats, the left-wing group that supported Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other successful progressives in their House primary runs.

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“What you see coming from me is an effort to lower peoples’ costs, whether that’s through the gas tax relief bill or other bills that I’m looking at introducing,” Warnock said in an interview. Republicans “are focused on politics, and I’m focused on the people I’m here to represent … people are struggling and they are focused on how they pay for their groceries.”

Republicans are dinging those Democrats’ moves as desperate re-election ploys as President Joe Biden’s sinking approval ratings endanger control of the Senate. But the larger obstacle to Democrats’ latest pivot could be within the party itself.

Some Democrats have little desire to entertain a yearlong gas tax holiday just a few months after Biden signed the Senate’s infrastructure law.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who helped write that infrastructure law, said he’s “always reluctant” to take away a dedicated funding source for roads and bridges. Others were harsher.

“While the oil and gas industry are extracting massive windfall profits, to support that without having them have significant responsibility would be a real mistake,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who’s won three difficult races in a red state, said suspending the gas tax “could help working families move forward.” Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top tax writer in the Senate, said the gas tax is too regressive and that suspending state taxes on some goods could be “very attractive” for the Senate to take up.

But given the 50-50 Senate split, it’s debatable whether any of these ideas can become law. Senate Republicans dismissed them as both nonsensical and desperate, suggesting getting 60 votes would be near impossible.

“It’s blatantly transparent. And obviously very politically motivated. This isn’t something they’d be rolling out unless they were looking at polling that suggests they are taking on a lot of water as result of a huge spike in gas prices,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.).

He said “maybe” it’s good politics for Democrats but predicted voters would “see through” Democrats’ tactics. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said of Democrats: “These are the same people last year that were trying to raise taxes and now because they’re in tight races they want to cut them.”

 

[Esdraelon]

By all means, do everything you can to push the party further to the Left