In The News
The GOP-led House is in chaos. Bipartisanship is the only path forward.
by Rep. Annie Kuster
As the world faces new and ongoing threats to peace and democracy — from the war in Ukraine to the violent terrorist attacks on Israel — the United States should stand as a beacon of hope and freedom. Yet, Republican chaos in the House of Representatives is threatening our global standing. The American people and U.S. allies deserve better than the chaos of House Republican leadership. Over the last two weeks, the House has convened for less than 20 minutes. Without a Speaker, we cannot vote … Continue Reading
September 25, 2023
Center-Left Democrats Endorse Farm Bill Policies to Combat Hunger and Poverty
by Stephen Neukam
A group of fiscally moderate Democrats are looking to the Farm Bill to combat rising food insecurity, endorsing a slate of 44 measures to bolster nutrition programs and strengthen food supply chains. The endorsements from the New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of nearly 100 fiscally moderate Democrats, details of which were first shared with The Messenger, lays down a mostly bipartisan marker of policy priorities as Washington confronts the renewal of the country’s primary agriculture and food … Continue Reading
September 18, 2023
Dems urge McCarthy to face reality, work with them on spending bills
by Andrew Solender
With the clock ticking to fund the government and avoid a shutdown at the end of the month, Democrats are pressing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to accept an idea that seems inevitable: You will need us, one way or another. Why it matters: Any spending bills will need agreement from the Senate and President Biden — a challenge for McCarthy, whose right flank in the House is steering him toward severe budget cuts while threatening to replace him and seemingly welcoming a … Continue Reading
September 08, 2023
Rep. Gabe Vasquez Discusses New Dem Letter to Speaker McCarthy Calling for Bipartisan Action to Address Fentanyl Crisis and Secure Southern Border
by Cat Oriel
Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) has a direct message for House lawmakers regarding the fentanyl crisis: “We’ve got to put politics aside.” As a Democrat who grew up in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and now represents a large border district in New Mexico, the freshman Democratic lawmaker believes he brings a distinctive perspective to the issue of immigration. “I actually grew up on the other side of the border wall, but I did have the privilege of being an American citizen,” he says. “I'm uniquely … Continue Reading
July 19, 2023
The New Dems plot a course for Biden’s legislative agenda
by Kadia Goba
THE SCOOP: The New Democrats, the self-described “pragmatic” caucus that includes close to 100 House members, is introducing a new economic agenda, hoping to build on a string of recent good news on inflation, jobs, and wages. New Democrat Coalition’s 22-page plan, “The Economic Opportunity Agenda,” shared exclusively with Semafor, includes eight key issues where members hope to “lower costs, fight inflation, and grow the middle class” in the current Congress and beyond. KADIA’S VIEW: The … Continue Reading
July 17, 2023
New Dem Members Travel to National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Meet with Experts on Substance Use, Mental Health, Cancer, and Cutting-Edge Research
June 01, 2023
Inside a debt ceiling standoff ‘far more dangerous than people will recognize’
by Jeremy Diamond, Lauren Fox, Melanie Zanona, Phil Mattingly, Arlette Saenz and Kevin Liptak
President Joe Biden ended the month of May the same way he began it: with a phone call to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. His first call invited McCarthy to the first in a series of meetings to negotiate an agreement on the debt ceiling and the budget. His latest came Wednesday night, after a bipartisan coalition in the House voted 314 to 117 to comfortably pass that agreement, moving the White House a critical step closer to dodging the kind of economic calamity that could derail two years of … Continue Reading
June 01, 2023
House approves the Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling bill as default deadline looms
by Barbara Sprunt
House lawmakers have passed a piece of compromise legislation brokered between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avoid an unprecedented debt default with just days to spare. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 overwhelmingly cleared the chamber Wednesday evening with a 314-117 vote. The high stakes negotiations and subsequent passage of the bill were a critical test for McCarthy as speaker. With his narrow majority, McCarthy carried out a balancing act — crafting a … Continue Reading
May 31, 2023
Biden tried an ice-then-court strategy with House Dems. It worked.
by Jennifer Haberkorn, Adam Cancryn, and Nicholas Wu
For 11 days this spring, President Joe Biden iced out his Democratic allies as he negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over raising the nation’s debt limit. With Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at the table, Biden was convinced the talks had grown too unwieldy. The White House wanted to narrow the conversation, leaving other Democrats to steam. Progressives openly criticized Biden. Allies, such as Congressional Black Caucus … Continue Reading
May 31, 2023
A break-glass option, gumbo and a bike ride: How the debt ceiling deal got done
by Peter Nicholas, Mike Memoli, Katherine Doyle, Monica Alba, Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong
Right up until the end, the White House was exploring contingency plans in case the high-stakes talks with Republicans to raise the debt ceiling and avert economic disaster collapsed. The White House was considering the unprecedented step of bypassing Congress altogether and invoking the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states that “the validity of the public debt … shall not be questioned.” President Joe Biden worried that there wasn’t enough time for … Continue Reading
May 31, 2023
A Washington surprise: Centrists push back against fringes in debt deal
by Toluse Olorunnipa
For weeks, conservative Republicans warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy not to back down from sweeping spending cuts, saying anything else would be an unforgivable betrayal. Liberals implored President Biden to abandon the debt ceiling talks altogether, insisting the Constitution enabled him to simply ignore Republican demands. But in the end, the two leaders opted for a middle-of-the-road settlement, aiming to coalesce center-right and center-left lawmakers around the idea that an imperfect … Continue Reading
May 30, 2023
Debt limit deal clears key hurdle; more land mines await
by David Lerman and Lindsey McPherson
Bipartisan legislation to suspend the debt limit until after the 2024 elections cleared its first critical hurdle Tuesday night, when the House Rules Committee backed the terms for floor debate that is scheduled for Wednesday. Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Joe Biden, who negotiated the package, appear likely to have the votes to pass the measure, despite rising anger from the GOP majority’s hard-right flank and some concerns on the left as well. First, party leaders … Continue Reading
May 29, 2023
Biden, McCarthy Work Lawmakers to Pass Deal as Time Runs Short
by Jennifer Jacobs, Erik Wasson, and Billy House
The White House and Republican congressional leaders geared up lobbying campaigns to win approval of a deal to avert a US default as environmentalists, defense hawks and conservative hard-liners condemned concessions. President Joe Biden is personally calling lawmakers to support this bill, while cabinet members and senior White House staff already had called at least 60 House Democrats by early Monday morning, a Democratic official said. “I never say I’m confident about … Continue Reading
May 29, 2023
Biden, McCarthy Work Lawmakers to Pass Deal as Time Runs Short
by Jennifer Jacobs, Erik Wasson, and Billy House
The White House and Republican congressional leaders geared up lobbying campaigns to win approval of a deal to avert a US default as environmentalists, defense hawks and conservative hard-liners condemned concessions. President Joe Biden is personally calling lawmakers to support this bill, while cabinet members and senior White House staff already had called at least 60 House Democrats by early Monday morning, a Democratic official said. “I never say I’m confident about … Continue Reading
May 29, 2023
Kevin McCarthy May Need Democrats to Save Debt Deal From Republicans
by Andrew Stanton
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's plan to raise the federal debt ceiling may need Democratic support to pass a key committee. McCarthy, a California Republican, and President Joe Biden announced a tentative dealover the weekend to raise the $31.5 trillion debt limit for two years while also cutting federal spending. They announced the deal just days before the United States is set to default on its commitments—which experts say would have devastating impacts to the global economy, giving … Continue Reading
May 29, 2023
White House to Dems: The debt deal could have been a LOT worse
by Jennifer Haberkorn, Holly Otterbein, and Adam Cancryn
The White House has a simple message to Democrats skeptical of the debt ceiling agreement the president cut with Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Don’t judge us by what’s included but what we kept out. Top administration officials began fanning out late Saturday evening and all through Sunday to sell the deal, which would suspend the debt ceiling through January of 2025, limit federal spending through the same period, and make changes to government social welfare programs. The calls with … Continue Reading
May 16, 2022
House Dems Have a Mod Squad. Do Voters Have Any Idea?
by A.B. Stoddard
As a daunting November election comes into focus, and the collapse of Build Back Better is disappearing from the rear-view mirror, Democrats are debating how to use their time before likely losing unified control of the federal government. Progressives want President Biden to abandon the legislative process altogether, while another group of House Democrats is urging him to deliver on a campaign promise - to pass as many bipartisan bills as possible. Still clinging to their … Continue Reading
July 26, 2021
Brownfield Ag News: Axne and Bustos to Co-Chair Rural Reinvestment Task Force
by Mark Dorencamp
Two Midwestern Congresswomen have been named chairs of the New Democrat Coalition Rural Reinvestment Taskforce. Cindy Axne of Iowa and Cheri Bustos of Illinois will lead the group, which aims to develop and advance policy solutions that support Rural America. Axne says the task force will ensure rural communities have a seat at the table in Congress, focusing on a wide range of issues like broadband, healthcare, and the impacts of a changing climate. Bustos says rural areas are in need of … Continue Reading
July 26, 2021
Bloomberg Goverment: What to Know in Washington
by Zachary Sherwood and Brandon Lee
Senators negotiating a $579 billion infrastructure package are aiming to finish negotiations early this week, under pressure from colleagues to salvage an August recess and to allow the Senate to turn to preventing a government shutdown and debt ceiling default in the fall. A pending five-week break scheduled to begin Aug. 9 is motivating the 22-member bipartisan group to end dickering over relatively minor components of their plan after Republicans spurned Senate Majority Leader Chuck … Continue Reading
May 03, 2021
ICYMI – NDC Chair DelBene: It’s Time to Take Child Poverty Seriously and Make the Child Tax Credit Permanent via The American Independent
In case you missed it: New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Chair Suzan DelBene (WA-01) penned an op-ed in The American Independent calling for the permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). A one-year expansion was included in the American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in March: "A one-year version of our proposal was included in the American Rescue Plan. That's because the New Democrat Coalition, a group of 94 forward-thinking Democrats that I lead in the House, endorsed the … Continue Reading