What happened
President Joe Biden’s aggressive pursuit
of a progressive agenda sparked growing
opposition from Republicans this week,
as both conservatives and liberals accused
each other of souring any chance for
“unity.” Biden came out swinging with an
unprecedented flurry of executive orders
and actions, signing more than three
dozen in his first seven days. Many were
aimed at overturning Donald Trump’s
policies on the environment and immi-
gra tion, including orders that ceased
border wall construction, rejoined the
Paris climate accord, and revoked the
Keystone XL pipeline permit. Others focused on social justice and
delivering aid to the needy, including measures to expand food
assistance and extend legal protections for transgender people.
Biden’s ambitious agenda— including a proposed immigration bill
that would offer millions of undocumented residents a pathway to
legal status and citizenship—drew fire from Republicans, who said
its sharp progressive bent belied the president’s plea for bipartisan
unity. “He may use the language, the rhetoric, even the demeanor
of a centrist,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), “but so far his poli-
cies don’t seem to represent that.”
Republican opposition hardened against Biden’s $1.9 trillion
coronavirus rescue/ stimulus plan, which the president has cast as
crucial aid for suffering Americans and an economy hammered by
the pandemic. Many GOP lawmakers called the bill too big. They
targeted a provision to send $1,400 stimulus checks to most Ameri-
cans, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said would
“direct huge sums” toward many people who are still working.
Biden expressed willingness to negotiate, including on the stimulus
checks. But he faced pressure from some Democrats to push the
bill through the 50-50 Senate without Republican support, even if
it means using a process called budget
reconciliation. “It’s important that
Democrats deliver for America,” said
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachu-
setts. “If Republicans want to cut back
to the point that we’re not delivering
what needs to be done, then we need to
be prepared to fight them.”
What the editorials said
“No, President Biden has not already
renounced ‘unity,’” said The Washing-
ton Post. Biden is exercising “the usual
powers of the presidency” by advancing
policies he campaigned on, including
climate change, immigration reform,
and LGBTQ rights—all of which enjoy
broad popular support. If Republicans
want a voice in these policies, they
should engage “in good-faith negotia-
tion.” Their demands for centrism are
“cynical and self-serving,” especially
after they spent four years enabling a
president “who at every turn sought to
divide the country for political gain.”
Biden seems to think Americans should
“unite” around “one point of view,”
said The Wall Street Journal. The
words in his inaugural address that
seemed to cast his political opponents as
“racists and nativists” brought to mind
the condescending way Barack Obama
cast ideological differences “as divisions
between enlightenment and bigotry.”
If Biden’s vision of social justice means
blaming “every inequity in American
life on racism,” and he casts climate
change dissenters as “deniers” who are
happy to destroy the planet, “he will
alienate millions.”What the columnists said
“Democrats worked long and hard to gain power,” said Eugene
Robinson in The Washington Post, and they should use it “with
determination and without fear.” Republicans’ “laughable” idea
of unity is to steer clear of anything they oppose. Negotiation over
the details is fine, but citizens voted in record numbers to give
Democrats a mandate to act decisively on climate change and the
pandemic, and to rescue a broken economy that’s left the poor and
working class facing “hunger and fear.”Biden’s call to unity is “more fig leaf than honest invitation,” said
Michael Goodwin in the New York Post. His blitzkrieg of over-
reaching executive actions— including “economically disastrous”
environmental policies and an immigration bill that would flood
the border with new migrants—make clear the only common
ground he seeks is with his party’s far-left fringe.Republican insistence that Biden meet them “in the middle” is a
farce, said Tim Miller in TheBulwark.com. Consider Sen. John
Cornyn’s complaint that by lifting Trump’s transgender ban in the
military, Biden is being divisive. Polls show 71 percent of Ameri-
cans opposed that pointless, mean-
spirted ban, which the military also
opposed. “How warped do you have to
be to think that the ‘unifying’ political
position is banning patriotic Ameri-
cans from volunteering to serve their
country?”Biden faces a choice “between fighting
for a bold agenda and forging biparti-
san agreements,” said Sahil Kapur in
NBCNews.com. For Republican leaders,
“unity” means avoiding “actions that
antagonize their base.” And there’s no
way to reconcile that with “a progres-
sive agenda that includes trillions of dol-
lars in new investments and an overhaul
of the country’s health-care and im-
migration systems.” Which way Biden
goes “will carry high stakes,” not only
for “the lives of millions of Americans,”
but for the short-term future of Demo-
crats, whose fragile hold on power will
face the verdict of voters in the 2022
congressional elections. Reuter
sBiden: A flurry of dozens of executive ordersTHE WEEK February 5, 2021
4 NEWS The main stories...
A bipartisan battle over ‘unity’
Illustration by Fred Harper.
Cover photos from Reuters, Getty, ReutersWhat next?
If Republicans try to block President Biden’s
$1.9 trillion relief bill, Democratic leaders will
try to push it through without their support,
said Lauren Fox in CNN.com. Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer says the Senate “could move as
soon as next week to pass a budget resolution,”
the first step in writing a bill that under Senate
rules can be passed with a simple majority—
rather than a filibuster-proof 60 votes that would
require buy-in from 10 Republicans. It would
be “just the first step” in the technical process
known as reconciliation, which requires crafting
the bill’s language along specific guidelines and
undergoing “a rigorous review process.” While
it may ease passage, “reconciliation comes with
its own headaches for Democrats,” said Jacob
Pramuk in CNBC.com. The narrow reconciliation
rules restrict what lawmakers can include, and a
narrowing of eligibility for the $1,400 checks may
be needed “to avoid defections” among moder-
ate Democrats.