Biden Allies Ignore Tuesday’s Shellacking, Urge Democrats to Enact Reconciliation Package 

Israel - Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) answers questions from reporters after leaving the Sen
Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Wendell Husebø

President Joe Biden’s allies on Capitol Hill are turning a blind eye to Tuesday’s election shellacking by urging fellow Democrats to enact the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package.

As Democrats pivoted and became more centrist in 1994 after Bill Clinton lost the House in the midterms, the Democrat Party on Wednesday is resisting a course correction upon Tuesday’s defeat in numerous races across the nation.

Democrats in the media and on Capitol Hill still intend to ram through Biden’s radical reconciliation package despite the voters’ rejection of Democrat rule. Instead of perceiving their defeat as a means to change direction, Democrats estimate they lost Tuesday because they failed to enact radical legislation within Biden’s first ten months.

“You can’t fail to deliver on your promises and then expect to win elections. And that’s a big message for Democrats,” the Nation’s John Nichols said on Wednesday after the defeat.

Along the same lines, Cornell Belcher, a Democrat pollster, estimated the election results should “put a sense of urgency and a fire under” fellow Democrats to pass Biden’s agenda.

“If you look at how upset Americans broadly are about what they see as a dysfunction in Washington, and if you’re a rational Democrat, you have to understand we’ve got to do something, we got to start delivering for the people,” he said.

Friend and ally to Biden, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), told MSNBC Wednesday his party will not be deterred by the red wave. Instead of rethinking the Democrats’ position, Coons said the radical reconciliation passage must be passed.

“We have been circling the landing for a long time. Now, it’s time to stick the landing,” Coons explained. “We need to pass and send to his desk from the Congress a Build Back Better bill and an infrastructure bill.”

Far-left “progressive caucus” leader Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) agreed with the Delaware senator. But she suggested the Democrats were defeated in Virginia because “Youngkin appealed to parents and education.” Jayapal said the future Democrat’s strategy should be to pass Biden’s agenda since it caters to parents who may want additional welfare.

“Youngkin appealed to parents and education. I think we have the formula to appeal to parents even more by passing a bill that provides child care, that provides pre-K, that provides jobs,” Jayapal said.. “My message now is: Let’s get these two bills done … We will then really be able to appeal to families and say we do understand your economic pain.”

The statements from the Democrat leaders seems to have trickled down to Democrat congressional aides. A senior Democrat aide relayed to NBC News the “poor results” should not be seen “as a referendum on Democrats’ failure to deliver on the agenda that got them elected.”

“To me, it argues strongly for people just passing the damn bills, and that will be what I say to colleagues in both the Congressional Progressive Caucus and New Democrat Coalition,” the aide continued. “Not interested in blame game but we just really have to pass things. If we don’t, why would people vote for us?”

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefly questioned in the Capitol’s hallway Wednesday morning, she threw her support behind continuing to enact Biden’s radical legislation.

“No,” she replied, responding to the question of whether to legislatively pivot to a centrist position.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø

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