Democrats are realizing that their ambitions for a $3.5 trillion infrastructure spending plan to overhaul the nation’s social safety net and address climate change may have to be scaled back due to nervous centrists concerned about the 2022 midterm elections, The Hill reports.
Democrats, for the most part, believe that President Biden’s lofty “human” infrastructure plan has broad popular support, and that a majority of Americans support rising taxes on companies and the affluent to help pay for it.
However, there is an acknowledgement that moderate Democrats in swing states and districts must demonstrate that they are molding the emerging reconciliation plan.
And part of that plan might include reducing the package’s size from the $3.5 trillion target established by the Senate and House budget resolutions the month before.
To prevent a political fiasco in the 2022 midterm elections, several moderate Democrats are already suggesting that the magnitude of the human infrastructure bill needs to be drastically reduced.
Moderates may protect themselves against Republican allegations that their party has been taken over by the “far left” by fighting with progressives over the size of the program.
Another issue is Biden’s dwindling popularity.
The president received 47 percent national approval and 46 percent national disapproval in a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday.
Biden’s favor scores in five crucial states – Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina — trailed his disapproval ratings by 10 points to 14 points, according to a Civiqs tracking poll released this week.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy, among other moderate House Democrats, has threatened to vote “no.”
Ex Rep. Ron Klink, a centrist Democrat who represented a Conservative district in western Pennsylvania, claims that alongside Manchin and Sinema, there are additional moderate Democratic senators who oppose the $3.5 trillion price tag.
Klink, on the other hand, is encouraging nervous Democrats not to abandon Biden’s infrastructure plan.
He cautions that moderates made a catastrophic mistake by running for political protection during the fight over the Affordable Care Act in 2009, which was followed by a resounding Republican win in the 2010 midterm elections.
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