We’ll begin this hour by looking at how the Democrats’ once-mighty social spending package, the Better Law Reinstatement Act, has gradually shrunk into a shadow of itself. It started over a year ago as a $3.5 trillion catch for climate spending, a universal pre-K tax hike, and a tax hike for the rich. Now, the most recognizable parts of the law that will be passed could be several provisions on health care. Joining us, as usual, is NPR National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson for our forward-looking politics. Good morning, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So Democrats say they’re going to try to get prescription drug reform and some health insurance subsidies passed a few weeks before the August recess. How much downtime is this?
LIASON: That’s a very big step back. But look, Obamacare’s subsidies for low- and middle-income people matter. So is allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs. But climate change measures were the most existential part of President Biden’s agenda. And climate activists say now, without this bill, there’s no way the U.S. can meet Biden’s goals of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030, or meet his goal that half of all cars sold in the U.S. in. will be electric by 2030. And remember, this comes after Biden’s efforts to mitigate climate change recently suffered another blow, when the Supreme Court limited the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. So that’s a big, big setback for the climate.
RASCOE: And how did this come about, and is his name Joe Manchin?
LIASON: Well, yes, it is. This is a problem Democrats have faced since they won the White House decisively in 2020, but lost seats in the House of Representatives and ended up with a 50-50 split in the Senate. They never really had a functional legislative majority in the Senate. Joe Manchin has become the defining voice, not only for Build Back Better, but for voting rights and the filibuster and many other things. He’s a Democrat, but he comes from a very red state that overwhelmingly voted by, I think, 40 points for Donald Trump. And Manchin recently said that the reason he wouldn’t move forward with the Better Law Recovery Act, a watered-down version, was because he was worried it would spend more money and it would make inflation worse. But Democrats say they agreed to every concession Manchin wanted, but he kept moving the goalposts.
Many Democrats say they don’t think he ever negotiated in good faith. And remember, he once killed Bill Build Back Better last December. Then he continued the negotiations. But when he opposed tax cuts for renewable energy last week, the White House said, enough. Biden pulled the plug, issued a statement telling Congress to pass Obamacare subsidies and Medicare drug reforms. Meanwhile, he will issue what he calls strong executive actions on climate change to reduce the US carbon footprint. It won’t be like the law, but he will do what he can.
RASCOE: What do Democrats think about the midterm elections? Are they preparing for the worst?
LIASON: Yes, they are. They are still very pessimistic about retaining their majority in the House, although generic ballots have tightened up a bit recently. The generic ballot is the poll question that asks voters if the election were held today, would you vote for a generic Democrat or Republican? Thus, the advantage of the Republicans there decreased a little. Democrats say they hope recent Supreme Court rulings on guns, abortion and climate change will galvanize Democratic voters. And there are several Senate races where Republicans worry they are in danger of nominating candidates too extreme to win in November.
RASCOE: You know, in the time we have left, the Republicans would seem to have the wind at their backs, depending on who you ask. But is there a question of whether, for example, litigation, abortion rights — like, whether that’s going to be a motivating factor or a sufficient motivating factor for, like, the economy?
LIASON: Well, inflation is the No. 1 concern for voters, but abortion is one of those rare culture war issues that helps Democrats. A majority of voters – over 60% – wanted Roe v. Wade to be the law of the land. Roe was the middle ground when it came to abortion. Abortion would be legal with restrictions, which is where most people are. And the big political question now is, which party will be considered more extreme on the issue of abortion? Republicans want to portray Democrats as supporting abortion on demand. Democrats say Republicans are extremists for passing laws that say abortion should be illegal in all cases, including incest and rape.
RASCOE: That was NPR political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you, Mara.
LIASSON: You’re welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
