6.30 p.m., August 14, 2021
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While he must pass his ambitious investment plan of 1.2 trillion dollars, US President Joe Biden finds himself once again torn between the two wings of the Democratic Party.
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Democrats this week welcomed the Senate’s vote on a $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure investment plan. Especially since it has benefited from the support of nine Republican senators, which constitutes a success for a White House anxious to seek a consensus on the major reconstruction projects of America. But it does not say that this plan is also voted by the House of Representatives, where the Democratic majority is more solid there. President Joe Biden finds himself once again torn between the two wings of his party.
The progressive branch wants the Senate to vote on another spending plan, of 3.500 billion dollars this time, which aims to complete the first, especially in the social and environmental field. This mega-envelope would complement the 2022 budget of the United States, whose deficit is already estimated at 1.8 trillion dollars. Two more conservative Democratic senators are more than skeptical of this disproportionate ambition and threaten not to vote for this budget.
Blocking the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party
Hence the threat from the Democratic President of the House, Nancy Pelosi: as long as the Senate has not voted on this second, much more expensive component, the House will not ratify the first. It is for her to win on both counts to satisfy both the supporters of reconstruction and those of massive investment in a social and ecological policy worthy of the name.
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The more moderate wing of the party in the House, for its part, is already retracting. Nine elected Congress Democrats also sent a letter Thursday to the Speaker of the House to inform her that they would not vote in favor of this second plan, as long as the first, more reasonable in their eyes, would not be definitively adopted. In this priority blackmail game, the Democratic Party and President Biden risk a lot, with the pessimistic prospect that neither plan will be adopted as a result of this showdown between progressives and moderates.
What makes Charlie Dent, former elected Republican in Congress turned columnist on CNN, say: “Last year, Biden convinced centrist Democrats, moderate Republicans and independent voters that he was capable of maturity after four chaotic years. and exhausting presidency Trump. He should not upset those Americans, who prefer a graduation in progress rather than a vast upheaval. “
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