Earlier this week, the petulant child-in-chief stated that Democrats on Capitol Hill can either choose to work on legislative issues or investigate him. As we have gotten used to over the past several years, President Trump simply does not understand the rules for how government works. This latest temper tantrum, however, is a challenge to Democrats on Capitol Hill. It’s important that our leaders show that we can do both and do both in a big way.
Because President Trump can veto any legislation and because Senator Mitch McConnell is best at blocking legislation and lousy at getting anything done, it is unlikely that Democrats can actually get any significant laws passed until after the 2020 election. But Democrats can make a big deal of the House passing a set of laws that will be the core of the legislative agenda in 2021.
On infrastructure, the appropriate committee needs to draft a bill that will make a major down payment on the backlog of crucial infrastructure projects. And then, the Rules committee can set aside a healthy block of time to debate that bill on the floor of the House. During that debate, Democrats from every swing state and swing district can speak about what that bill will mean for their area — the type of speeches which can be blasted on you tube with highlights on the local news. Then Democratic Senators can regularly ask when Mitch McConnell will let that bill come up for a vote in the Senate.
On immigration, again, Democrats can put a comprehensive reform bill on the floor and devote a significant amount of time for debate — enough time to make the debate on the immigration bill something that local and national media has to cover.
There are probably other topics that are equally important on which Democrats command majority support. It is not enough to simply pass these items through the House with quick votes (as we did with election reform). We must give these bills enough floor time to make these bills significant. As the Democrats in the House pass these bills, they need to make clear that if Republicans in the Senate want to make changes, Democrats are more than happy to have a conference committee to resolve these difference. And Democratic Senators need to keep the pressure on the Republicans to get something out of the Senate and to send these bills to conference.
While the House is pushing these major legislative packages through, the House, of course, will continue to investigate the crimes and impeachable acts committed by Donald Trump, his family, and his toadies. But, by next summer, Democrats need to make it clear that we are ready to fix things and it’s only Donald Trump’s narcissism and Mitch McConnell’s lack of a backbone that is standing in the way of what the country wants. If we can frame the agenda in that way, then we will be well-positioned for the November 2020 elections. And, if we get lucky, Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell will come to their senses, and we might actually get something done this Congress.
