Haisten Willis of the Washington Examiner reports on the political left’s response to the stalled Build Back Better proposal.
With the Build Back Better Act wounded, perhaps fatally, by the public defection of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, liberals are calling on President Joe Biden to go solo in fulfilling his agenda.
But those calls are meeting resistance from opponents who say they’re bad policy at best and illegal at worst.
Seattle-based Rep. Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, penned an op-ed in the Washington Post calling on Biden to enact portions of his Build Back Better plan via executive order.
“We are calling on the president to use executive action to immediately improve people’s lives,” Jayapal wrote, adding she’d keep working to push the legislation in Congress. “Taking executive action will also make clear to those who hinder Build Back Better that the White House and Democrats will deliver for Americans.”
The $2.4 trillion bill includes programs such as universal preschool, subsidized child care, paid family leave, and Medicare and Medicaid expansion.
Jayapal added in a tweet, “I’m calling on [Biden] to join us on a two track strategy — to enact as many relief programs as possible through Executive Action while we work on this critical legislation.”
It’s unclear whether Biden is interested in moving his agenda this way. Even if he was, the legality of such moves is questionable.
Tea Party Patriots Action Honorary Chairwoman Jenny Beth Martin said Biden would be stepping outside the law if he enacted any of the bill’s major programs without congressional approval. …
… However, a bit of creativity could give Biden wide latitude to move his agenda, according to Cato Institute research fellow William Yeatman. For one, the Senate parliamentarian has already stripped out parts of the act related to climate change and immigration that Biden could theoretically move alone.
Beyond that, there’s precedent for using emergency powers to enact policy.
