Democrats Cheri Bustos, Hakeem Jeffries and David Cicilline take to the pages of USA Today to explain what Democrats plan to do if they recapture the House in November. Here’s the pocket summary:
If we have the opportunity to lead the House of Representatives next year, we will lower your health care costs, increase your pay and clean up corruption so Washington works for you.
We will need to wait for the details. My interpretation of what they plan to do is increase health care subsidies, enact a big infrastructure spending plan (Trump promised that, too), and enact stronger ethics laws. “Cleaning up the swamp” has been promised by every administration I can recall. It’s the modern equivalent of “a chicken in every pot”. Every administration has also demurred from doing what would actually “drain the swamp” by reducing the incentives. Decentralize.
I guess we’ll have to pass it to see what’s in it.
I maintain my prediction that impeaching Trump will be for House Democrats what repealing ObamaCare was to House Republicans. After all of the fulmination the base will demand it.
The Democrats’ idea of a bold policy agenda is rather underwhelming.
Lets not forget Kavanaugh’s impeachment, multiple high profile, selectively leaky Congressional investigations, demands for confidential tax records, and shrieking for bipartisanship.
I am not so sure about impeachment, but they could certainly go the GOP route and hav repeated hearings over Trump’s financial dealings and all of the scandals his admin has had so far. Heck, if they could have 8 Benghazi hearings, how many emoluments hearings can we have?
Steve
I hear they are going to eliminate the heartbreak of psoriasis too. So you got that…..
Whatever one may think of Contract with America, 1994 was the last time a party not holding the Presidency actually campaigned on Congress passing a platform vs checking the President. And really the last time the Congress was the predominant driver on policy.
Repealing Obamacare, stopping the War in Iraq, or Medicare for All aren’t really a legislative platform.
Ben, my interpretation is that they’re running on the basis of not being Republicans. Maybe that will be enough. Otherwise it’s a mugwump platform. I know the official etymology of mugwump but I prefer the folk etymology: somebody who sits with his mug on one site of the fence and his wump on the other. They’re trying to appeal to the Sanders supporters without committing to their agenda.
As I see it the problem for Democrats is their party is currently very divided except for a few narrow areas. The GoP has a similar problem. The irony of tribal partisanship is that it extends much further than that into sub-partisan groups that can’t agree with the other sub-partisan groups.
I don’t think that’s the Democrats’ gravest problem. I think the structure of their coalition is. The worst possible case for black folk is if Hispanics vote as an interest group but that appears to be the Democrats’ primary strategy. Either black voters will need to be satisfied with whatever crumbs fall from the table or they’ll need to stop being Democrats.
With only two parties, where else are black voters going to go?