Biden’s Stalled Agenda Creates New Challenges for Democrats Before Midterms

President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats’ struggles to secure legislative wins are set to exacerbate expected losses in November’s midterm elections.

Biden has returned from his criticized Middle East trip to one last window of Capitol Hill lawmaking before the August recess and fall campaigns. But with his agenda once again complicated by the likes of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), enthusiasm among the Democratic base remains low.

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First lady Jill Biden has complained about the challenges the president has encountered from Democrats and Republicans alike.

“He had so many hopes and plans for things he wanted to do, but every time you turned around, he had to address the problems of the moment,” the first lady told donors last weekend of her husband.

“Joe truly believes in working with Congress and getting things done, but obviously, the Republicans are pulling together, and they’re not budging,” she said.

Despite the first lady pointing to Republicans, Northeastern University political science chairman and professor Costas Panagopoulos contended that Democrats were poised “to bear the brunt of the blame for inaction.”

“Voters tend to judge the party in power and either reward or punish it,” he said. “For better or worse, right now, the party in power is the Democratic Party.”

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Nicole Morales said Joe Biden and Democrats had notched little more than destroying the American dream.

“Now, Democrats must answer to voters about why they are paying the price for historic inflation, record gas prices, and enabled Joe Biden’s destructive policies,” she said. “Democrats have no answers and will face reality in November.”

Republican Cesar Conda added, “Voters are concerned about inflation and the cost of living. Washington, D.C., Beltway accomplishments won’t do much to alleviate those concerns about the election.”

As other proposals — the China competitiveness bill that encompasses semiconductor chip funding, for example — are watered down to earn bipartisan votes, Democratic enthusiasm is waning. Joe Biden’s average approval-disapproval rating is 39%-56%, according to FiveThirtyEight. A New York Times-Siena College poll conducted this month also found that 25% of Democrats disapprove of Joe Biden’s job as president and that 63% think the country is heading in the wrong direction.

“Great ambition often comes with great risk,” according to Middlebury College politics professor Bert Johnson, citing Joe Biden’s “whittled down” social welfare and climate bill.

“This may diminish enthusiasm among liberals, but we’d expect diminished enthusiasm anyway among members of the president’s party in an off-year election,” he said. “In general, voters will make their choices largely based on economic factors — but of course, that’s not good news for Biden either right now.”

For some Democrats, such as Aggressive Progressive podcast host and former party consultant Christopher Hahn, Manchin scuttling negotiations over a compromise social welfare and climate spending bill due to inflation will not have repercussions in November.

“The Democratic base is fired up for two reasons: choice and [former President Donald] Trump,” Hahn told the Washington Examiner. “Should ‘Individual 1’ announce he’s running in 2024, that will add fuel to the fire,” he said, alluding to the former president.

The White House and its allies amplified the same argument made by former President Barack Obama‘s chief strategist, David Axelrod, when asked for their response.

“In fairness, @BarackObama would have loved to pass the infrastructure and gun safety bills @POTUS signed,” Axelrod tweeted. “If @JoeBiden winds up winning the right to negotiate and reduce RX drug prices under Medicare, he will have achieved another thing Dems have been talking [about] for decades.”

The president’s Middle East trip was undermined, in part, by domestic issues — specifically, Manchin announcing he would prefer to wait until August to back the climate and tax provisions in the latest iteration of the Democrats-only bill after the June consumer price index report revealed 9.1% inflation in the year ending last month.

“I am not going away,” Joe Biden told reporters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “I’m going to use every power I have as president to continue to fulfill my pledge to move toward dealing with global warming.”

In an earlier statement, the president implored lawmakers to keep pushing for prescription drug reform and healthcare subsidies. The Senate parliamentarian will consider this week whether Democrats’ pitch to permit Medicare to negotiate drug prices can be incorporated into a reconciliation bill.

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“Families all over the nation will sleep easier if Congress takes this action,” Joe Biden wrote. “The Senate should move forward, pass it before the August recess, and get it to my desk so I can sign it.”