{"id":523,"date":"2021-03-15T23:55:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T23:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parliamentnews360.com\/?p=523"},"modified":"2021-03-15T23:55:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T23:55:20","slug":"bidens-biggest-goals-crowd-the-agenda-of-one-senate-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parliamentnews360.com\/index.php\/bidens-biggest-goals-crowd-the-agenda-of-one-senate-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s Biggest Goals Crowd the Agenda of one Senate Panel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0MARIANNE LEVINE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden’s most progressive promises are about to be squeezed through a Senate panel where the new president and his Democratic allies have little room to maneuver.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Judiciary Committee will play a pivotal role over the next two years in determining whether Democrats can make good on an agenda that helped them take full control of Washington. The panel\u2019s to-do list is long, encompassing everything from immigration to voting rights to criminal justice reform to gun violence to expanding LGBTQ rights \u2014 and its mission is complicated by a roster of senators on both sides of the aisle with bigger national ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Democrats are acutely aware that given their narrowest of majorities, they’re short on time to get things done and in need of some GOP support to steer past the still-intact filibuster. That task is especially challenging on the Judiciary panel, whose chair, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), acknowledged in an interview that the first year of a president\u2019s first term is \u201cwhen you get the most done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durbin, who is also the No. 2 Senate Democrat, named the topic he’s led years of painstaking talks on as his first priority: “I’m looking for the first opportunity I can find for a timely presentation of an issue near and dear to me \u2014 immigration.\u201d He added a note of candor about the partisan energy working against him, saying that \u201cthe fact that we probably have the A-team for Trump Republicans sitting across from us… it’s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Judiciary Committee has hosted some of Washington’s most bruising political battles in recent years, peaking with the confirmation fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It’s unlikely to get more harmonious this year, with at least four GOP members considered potential 2024 presidential candidates and several younger Democrats with higher aspirations. That means achieving bipartisanship on Biden\u2019s top priorities could prove challenging at best and impossible at worst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe committee has changed, like the Senate has changed,\u201d said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). \u201cIt\u2019s become more partisan… and there should be no surprises that it’s followed the trend line of the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0MARIANNE LEVINE Joe Biden’s most progressive promises are about to be squeezed through a Senate panel where the new president and his Democratic allies have little room to maneuver. The Judiciary Committee will play a pivotal role over the next two years in determining whether Democrats can make good on an agenda that helped them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[89,88,83,85,86,87,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us-congress","8":"tag-brett-kavanaugh","9":"tag-dick-durbin","10":"tag-joe-biden","11":"tag-judiciary-committee","12":"tag-lgbtq-rights","13":"tag-senate-democrats","14":"tag-senate-panel"},"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n