Biden keeps the progressive angst at bay

After days of progressives fuming over the failure to prevent the federal eviction moratorium from expiring, the White House abruptly shifted its calculus on Tuesday and enacted a new ban.

It was a remarkable 180. For days, Biden aides had claimed that it was powerless to act, citing the likelihood that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be rebuked by the courts.

It was a symbolic reversal, too. Biden’s retreat calmed a potentially combustible intraparty rift, the latest sign of the lengths to which he has been willing to go to keep restive Democrats unified amid the push to pass his agenda.

The White House gave progressive leaders a heads up prior to unveiling the new eviction moratorium, which will impact communities being hit hardest by Covid and last until October 3. Administration officials had also been in close touch with the liberal lawmakers protesting the lapsed protections over the last few days and nights on the steps of the Capitol.

Despite vocal criticisms about the White House’s handling of the moratorium, the administration has privately expressed confidence that the party’s left wing will stick with the president as he advances his bipartisan infrastructure deal — which some liberals have decried as too modest in scope — and a Democratic-only spending package on social programs.

The president’s need to keep the peace inside the Democratic tent has grown more pronounced in the last few weeks, as liberals took direct aim at Biden on multiple fronts. There has been criticism over what they see as an unwillingness to pressure Senate Democrats on voting rights legislation, anger over the use of a provision of public health law to continue expelling migrants at the border, and frustration over the lapsed eviction moratorium.

Through the occasional fireworks, the White House has remained bullish about its ability to keep the party together. On balance, progressives have largely lauded Biden’s actions and legislative priorities during his presidency. They’ve been pleased at the pace and diversity of judges being named to federal trial and appellate courts. And in a meeting Tuesday with Latino leaders, the president was well-received for reiterating his pledge to pursue a reconciliation package that provides a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Even prior to his Tuesday afternoon reversal, most progressives downplayed the idea that the spat over the lapsed evictions moratorium was a harbinger of a larger war to come. In interviews, top liberal lawmakers said that they trust the administration’s commitment to their legislative priorities, including the two-track passage of the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the reconciliation package that will include money for eldercare, higher education and child care.

“When you look at the scope of what we're doing, and the list of progressive priorities that are being moved and acted on, particularly when we get this reconciliation bill done, it is really important to recognize how progressive so many of these things we're talking about are,” said Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who has been in extensive talks with top Biden administration officials.

“Are we going to agree on everything? No. And there's no expectation that we don't express our frustration when we have it,” Jayapal added.

Jayapal stressed that the frustrations progressives had over the eviction moratorium matter would not impact how they vote on the reconciliation package and the bipartisan deal on physical infrastructure funding. As the leader of the Progressive Caucus, Jayapal has been in frequent talks over the past few weeks with White House counselor Steve Ricchetti and chief of staff Ron Klain. Despite occasional disagreements, she said she viewed the White House as a partner.

Stressing Biden’s promise to boost the reconciliation package, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said the “president is all in” and will “barnstorm every region of America selling it.” Biden is working “in partnership with progressive members and organizations,” Bates said.

Though the White House has effectively maintained good relationships with progressives, some expect that those partnerships will be truly tested this coming fall.

Progressives want to see Biden’s infrastructure and social spending plans passed because their priorities are also included. But once those items are off the docket, the legislative priorities — from police reform to gun control — become more difficult to move through a split Senate. The fissures will compound, they say, if a pathway to citizenship for some immigrants is ultimately cut from the reconciliation bill and voting rights legislation goes nowhere.

“I do expect more Democrats to be more critical of the White House once we finish infrastructure, because there's only so much you can do through reconciliation,” said Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) “And nothing poses a more short-term existential threat than the voter suppression that we have seen throughout this country by Republicans.”

“Increasingly, you're going to see people use the leverage that they have in Congress to extract concessions from the White House.”

For now, however, the primary focus for the White House and liberal lawmakers is rallying around Biden’s roughly $4 trillion spending plans on infrastructure and social programs.

Progressive outside groups also said the White House has voiced confidence in private meetings that — despite grumbling about the timing or provisions within the bipartisan infrastructure deal and yet-to-be written reconciliation package — they’ll have the votes to pass both. To reassure liberals, administration officials repeatedly stress they support the two bills moving in “tandem.”

Others pushing for the bill from the outside believe Democrats won’t ultimately stymie the legislation, contending that doing so cuts against their own self-interest. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has already said she won’t support a package that comes in at a $3.5 trillion price tag, as originally drafted. And though her comment drew the ire of progressives, there is optimism among activists that the party will be able to get fully on board.

Already, progressive groups are helping the White House keep Democrats together on the reconciliation package, promoting its provisions to combat climate change and to extend the child tax credit in ads and meetings with lawmakers. And no one is bad-talking the bipartisan deal, said one progressive activist, aware that both tracks are needed to ensure passage.

“Even if it’s going to be $3.3 trillion, and not $3.5 trillion, I would hope that the forest is kept in mind, not just the trees,” said Scott Jensen, chief executive of Research Improving People’s Lives and a former cabinet member in Rhode Island’s department of labor and training under Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the former governor there. “There will be back and forth, there will be arguments, but hopefully they come through with it because the amount of good that the funding does for so many people is a big deal.”