LETTER: Democrat agenda sows division
President Joe Biden is now touting a revised $2 trillion budget reconciliation package instead of the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better reconciliation package. The Democrats in Congress feel some urgency to get this done to “live up to their campaign promises.”
In other news, a current poll shows 87 percent of Americans are extremely or very concerned about inflation/higher prices, the highest category of concern, followed by 76 percent who are extremely or very concerned about political divisions in the country.
As I recall, President Biden was mostly silent during the 2020 campaign, except for attacks on Donald Trump. The 2020 election was more a rejection of Mr. Trump the person than approval for Mr. Biden. In addition, Mr. Biden was touted as the moderate Democratic candidate and, as a result, he beat out the progressive candidates (Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and the rest).
I contend that neither a 50-50 Senate nor an eight-vote majority in the House constitutes a mandate, and there are no campaign promises to live up to.
If the Democrats were receptive to Americans’ opinions, they should be honest and drop the reconciliation package entirely, settling for a win with the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. Budget reconciliation is not the way to push through major legislation; it smacks of demagoguery. And after deficits of $2.8 trillion and $3.1 trillion in the past two years, can we really afford another $200 billion to $300 billion per year?
Let’s address the real pressing problems in our country — such as inflation, the southern border, the supply crisis, China, and our huge deficits — instead of creating more crises and divisions and costs. Now that would be reconciliation.
