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“Local elected officials have their fingers on the pulse of their communities, and can speak better than anyone about what kind of future everyday Americans are demanding. Their collective statement today is clear: It’s time for our leaders in Washington to tackle the climate crisis now, not later. This means halting fracking and fossil fuel projects, period,” Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, said in a statement.
“We can ban fracking in the City of Denver, but if we don’t do this at a national and international scale, we will continue to destroy our habitability on our planet,” Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds, one of the signers, said in a statement. “We’re trying to do our part here in Denver, but we need members of Congress and President Biden to do their part too.”
Here are five hurdles Democrats face in getting a bill to Biden’s desk.
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How long to wait for bipartisanship
Biden promised to work with Republicans legislatively during his 2020 campaign, and on Monday he hosted a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House to talk about the infrastructure plan.
The outreach effort is being hailed by moderate Democrats who face pressure to be, or at least appear, bipartisan in crafting legislation. They’re urging patience to other lawmakers to give such efforts enough time to develop.
Liberals are wary that Republicans will water down a bill to the point that it’s ineffective. They’re pressing Democratic leaders not to spend too much time haggling with Republicans and get to the business of moving the biggest package possible, even if that means it passes with only Democratic votes.
House Democrats from New York on Tuesday escalated their push for the repeal of the cap on the state and local tax deduction, threatening to oppose future tax legislation that doesn't fully undo the $10,000 limit.
Schumer, who held a press conference on the bill on Tuesday, argued that the end result should be bipartisan. The way to do that is for 60 senators is to vote to proceed to the legislation. I hope it will be many more than 60. Who would oppose this very simple but necessary legislation? Schumer asked.
The bill from Hirono requires the Justice Department to designate an official to review coronavirus-related hate crimes, beef up state and local resources and examine best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language describing the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans haven t yet signaled if they would filibuster the bill, which would be their first filibuster under the Democratic-controlled Senate.