Evictions win is latest example of House progressives' influence on Biden. That may affect the infrastructure bill
WASHINGTON – Back in April, the White House abruptly announced it would keep in place a historically low Trump-era limit on the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the U.S., a move that triggered a wave of fury among progressives, advocates and even some senior Democratic leaders.
Hours later, President Joe Biden reversed course.
A similar episode unfolded last week when Biden retreated on his decision to allow a federal evictions moratorium to expire following a pressure campaign by a young group of progressive lawmakers, led by Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, who staged a protest by sleeping on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The president, who for days argued he did not have the legal authority to extend the COVID-era ban, once again issued a swift reversal, extending the moratorium for some renters despite expressing doubt about whether it would hold up in court.
The White House U-turn underscored how pressure from progressive Democrats has become increasingly hard for the president to ignore, especially given how just a handful could hold up major Biden priorities like his $1 trillion infrastructure bill making its way through Congress. But the evictions victory also signaled that progressives' activist tactics may provide a roadmap for battles ahead on liberal priorities, such as fighting climate change, forgiving student loan debt and raising the minimum wage.
In fact, some House progressives have already threatened to stand in the way of Biden's signature policy, making it clear they have no plans of voting for the infrastructure deal unless a separate $3.5 trillion budget deal is tailored to their liking.
"I think what these newer members of Congress have shown is that seniority and title matter less than grassroots following," Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said of progressive lawmakers like Bush.
"I think that has totally changed the rules of the game," he said.
More: Biden administration issues targeted moratorium on evictions for areas hit hardest by COVID-19
Progressive voices get louder
Outside the Capitol last week, Bush along with fellow Democratic Reps. Jimmy Gomez, Mondaire Jones and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, huddled around a phone as news of Biden's decision arrived on Capitol Hill. They were elated at the news. Moments later, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. came out to congratulate them.
“You did this,” Schumer told Bush – who had been protesting outside the Capitol for five days after the House failed to pass a hastily drafted bill to prevent the moratorium from ending.
Only days earlier, the White House said it was unconstitutional for Biden to again extend the moratorium, citing a Supreme Court decision in June that concluded any extension would need congressional approval.
But Congress didn't move on the issue. Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., punted the issue back to the White House and spent the weekend and early last week making phone calls to convince Biden and other White House officials on the progressive group's behalf.
Biden said he consulted several constitutional scholars before ordering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a new, targeted evictions moratorium for areas with high transmission of COVID-19. The new order is already facing legal challenges.
Gomez, D-Calif., said the pressure campaign was the result of months of behind-the-scenes negotiations by progressives pressing the White House to take action before the order lapsed.
Bush, a noted political activist who ran for office in the wake of Michael Brown’s shooting death in Ferguson, Missouri, told Paste BN with activists in Congress, people can "expect for things to be different than what maybe people are used to."
"We don't have the same eyes, we don't have the same background or the same agenda as some others," she said. "We brought that same energy, and will continue to bring that same energy as we continue on."
Progressives make demands of infrastructure bills
Progressives have largely been sidelined by the president's push to restore bipartisanship in Washington, a mission that's entailed working with Republicans and moderate Democrats in the Senate like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
But with the fate of the president's infrastructure deal hanging in the balance, the progressive group is poised to face another test of how far they can push the White House.
In the House, where Democrats hold just a slight majority over Republicans, Democrats can only afford to lose three votes from their own caucus on party-line legislation in order for it to pass, handing liberal lawmakers the power to doom the infrastructure bill.
Several have echoed they will not back the package without a sweeping $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that includes progressive domestic priorities like free pre-kindergarten and community college, and climate change initiatives – a threat Pelosi has also made. Senate Democrats unveiled a draft of their budget bill Monday.
Jayapal, chair of the 96-member Progressive Caucus, told Paste BN on Thursday that the entire caucus shares this stance.
"We are not voting for the bipartisan bill without the reconciliation bill. We've said that for three months, and we're continuing to say that," she said.
Khanna, a member of the Progressive Caucus, told Paste BN last week he wouldn't vote for the bipartisan infrastructure deal unless the Senate cleared the way for the full budget bill with strong climate provisions.
The White House takes note
The growing chorus of liberal voices has not gone unnoticed in the West Wing.
Members of the Progressive Caucus participates in weekly meetings with White House aides and liaisons, according to a Democratic congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the matter.
In the days leading up to Biden's announcement, White House officials were in touch with a number of members, including Bush, Gomez, Jayapal and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., according to an administration official.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss negotiations, said the White House hopes liberal lawmakers continue the same activism that spurred the new order in their districts to pressure states to release emergency rental assistance.
The evictions moratorium was hardly the first issue progressives mobilized on to influence the White House.
Months after the refugee resettlement spat, Vice President Kamala Harris was harangued after delivering a stark warning to migrants – "don't come" – during a trip to Guatemala in June to address an influx of migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border.
Ocasio-Cortez of New York quickly pushed back, calling Harris' message to migrants "disappointing to see."
"First, seeking asylum at any US border is a 100% legal method of arrival," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet. "Second, the US spent decades contributing to regime change and destabilization in Latin America. We can’t help set someone’s house on fire and then blame them for fleeing."
Harris was forced to defend her comments, with her office issuing a statement in the middle of the night noting similar comments made by other administration officials.
Liberal lawmakers have also pressed Biden to look into whether he can forgive student loan debt, a power the president said earlier this year he did not believe he possessed. But progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., say Biden does have the authority and have urged him to unilaterally undo student debt.
The White House has since asked the departments of Justice and Education to look into the matter. The Department of Education also recently hired general counsel Toby Merrill, whose research is often cited by Warren and progressives who say the president can legally cancel $50,000 in student debt.
Mary Small, national advocacy director for the progressive group Indivisible, said while Bush's Capitol protest is the standout moment, it's indicative of progressives' discipline on their priorities.
"It's not about fundamental agreement on the substance, it's about prioritization and what the Biden administration is going to use political capital on," she said. "Progressives are being very disciplined in what they're picking fights about, building up their track record of receipts and negotiations and then creating political space for Democrats to fulfill their own promises."
Jayapal told Paste BN their success in shaping policy is due to a combination of "direct action" but also their efforts to negotiate behind closed-doors.
The goal is to solve issues and "get it done before we get to that point" of protesting, but "if we need it, it's another tool in our toolbox," she said.
A 'turning point' or battle to come?
Emboldened by the victory on the eviction moratorium, progressives are planning to push the White House and House leadership on a variety of issues in the coming months, including student loans, fighting for a higher minimum wage and lifting a U.S. blockade in Yemen.
The strategy is a combination of driving progressive priorities in the administration, outside pressure campaigns and building voting blocs in the House so that legislation can't advance without them, according to Small.
"I think the combination of those three tactics have allowed them to have significant influence on this administration," she said.
In the wake of the new order, Jones said he hopes the moment marked a "turning point in the way that this White House views progressives."
"We are prepared to leverage our energy and our activism in close coordination with grassroots activists, and people all across this country," he said.
But the evictions clash was on an issue in which progressives "were rowing in the direction that most people in the [Democratic] caucus wanted to go," according to Matt Bennett, a longtime Democratic strategist and co-founder of the centrist group Third Way.
That may not be the case for progressive clashes on legislative priorities that could benefit Democrats in next year's midterm elections and define Biden's legacy.
"Sure, they deserve credit for it, but they were pushing on what was basically an open door," he said. "They are not going to succeed in battling Biden or Pelosi on fundamental, big things that they care about and that the leaders care about."
Some of those divisions spilled into public view last week when Bush waded into the politically charged "defund the police" debate. Conservatives seized on a video of Bush telling her critics to "suck it up and defunding the police has to happen."
Republicans have sought to pin the movement, which calls for reallocating or reducing law enforcement budgets, on Democrats ahead of midterms while Biden has gone to great lengths to distance himself from the idea.
Asked about Bush's video, Gomez said there's an assumption that everyone in the Progressive Caucus believes the same things because of one member's views, "and that's not the case."
"When they're taking a stand in opposition to Biden and leadership around things like defund the police – things that are easy for the Republicans to weaponize against at-risk Democrats – that's a real concern," Bennett said.