WASHINGTON — Democrats are betting they already have the key to success in the 2022 midterm elections: the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill that President Joe Biden is poised to sign into law.
The House plans to give final passage to the Senate-approved legislation Wednesday, enabling Biden to start pushing money out the door. That includes $1,400 checks, $300-a-week federal jobless benefits, and funds for vaccine distribution.
It was a grueling task for Democrats to keep enough members in line to pass the bill. But the next part will be even harder: persuading voters to reward them, and beating back a determined Republican campaign to undermine it after they unified to vote against it.
History favors the GOP as the party in power usually loses congressional seats in midterm elections.
New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said selling the Covid-19 aid bill will be “a big piece of the puzzle” to hold the House majority.
“Anytime you’re delivering for the American people, you’re strengthening your position politically. So this is going to strengthen us because it’s good policy,” he said in an interview. “We should shout it from the rooftops that we are passing historic legislation that will reboot the economy and end the pandemic.”
The legislation includes a per-child cash payment of at least $3,000 for one year and an expansion of “Obamacare” subsidies for two years. The 2022 elections will directly affect the fate of those provisions: Democrats want to extend them, but Republicans may have other ideas if they seize control of Congress.
“They’re always ready to help a big corporation or a rich person, but when a working family needs help, the Republicans tell them to drop dead,” Maloney said, accusing the GOP of showing “a callous disregard for the urgency of this crisis.”
‘Free money’
GOP operatives say they intend to highlight the bill’s flaws and turn voters against it, which could make it a defining issue as Democrats face major hurdles in passing other parts of their legislative agenda.
Republicans will accuse Democrats of using a virus emergency package to “pass a bunch of unrelated liberal spending,” said Chris Hartline, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which needs a net gain of one seat to win control.
“Nobody denies that there’s some stuff in the bill that’s popular,” he said. “But the cons of this bill have more staying power than the pros of this bill.”
Hartline said the party will run ads against vulnerable Democrats who voted down GOP amendments such as approving the Keystone pipeline, tightening restrictions on money going to anyone in the United States illegally — which Democrats say the bill already prohibits — and punishing schools that allow transgender athletes in girls sports.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., during an impeachment hearing at the Capitol on Nov. 21, 2019.Andrew Harrer / AP file
A recent Monmouth University poll found that 62 percent of Americans generally support the $1.9 trillion plan, including 33 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of independents. But the messaging war has just begun: Fifty-two percent said they’ve heard “a lot” about the plan while 47 percent have heard “a little” or “nothing at all” about it.
An Associated Press poll showed 70 percent of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s handling of the pandemic.
“Who wouldn’t be in favor of the government depositing free money into their bank accounts?” said one Republican operative who works on campaigns and wasn’t authorized to concede that publicly.
The operative said Republicans will hit Democrats for failing to condition school money to reopenings, and criticize figures like Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for voting for a $15 minimum wage, which was forced out of the package under Senate rules.
Privately, some Republican strategists downplay how decisive the relief bill will be in the 2022 election. Others lament that their party’s messaging has been incoherent — a far cry from the laser-focused attacks on the 2009 stimulus bill or Obamacare that fueled an avalanche of GOP midterm victories.
Still, Democrats have the ongoing task of justifying the $1.9 trillion price tag. Some strategists warn that it would be disastrous for the party if voters see the government spending heavily and don’t experience a meaningful improvement in their lives.
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And the party knows it faces other challenges, too.
“With redistricting stacked against Democrats and decades of history showing voters delivering divided government during a president’s first midterm, we need to pitch a near perfect game,” said Tyler Law, a consultant and former aide to the Democratic House election arm.
The price of humility
The financial benefits in the Covid-19 relief bill are more immediate and tangible than the 2009 stimulus package. And now, unlike 2009, there is little grassroots enthusiasm against the Democratic push, with many conservatives more fired up over cultural issues. Some Republican lawmakers and activists are highlighting controversies over racist imagery in Dr. Seuss books to rally a disaffected base.
“We help people, they complain about irrelevant s—,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, countered.
In a March 6 memo to senior staff that was obtained by NBC News, top White House advisers Anita Dunn and Brian Deese called the Covid-19 relief bill “one of the most consequential — and most progressive — pieces of legislation in American history.”
“There’s still much more to be done, and absolutely no room for complacency,” they wrote, telling staffers that “the real work will begin” after Biden signs it into law and implements it.
The memo came days after Biden conceded that Democrats blew it in 2009, the last time they had power and had to deal with a crisis. He said then-President Barack Obama, his boss at the time, should’ve bragged more about his stimulus package.
“We didn’t adequately explain what we had done. Barack was so modest,” Biden told House Democrats. “I kept saying, ‘Tell people what we did.’ He said, ‘We don’t have time. I’m not going to take a victory lap.’ And we paid a price for it, ironically, for that humility.”
But Biden is forgoing one means of self-promotion his predecessor used: The White House said his name won’t appear on the $1,400 stimulus checks to be sent by mail.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
