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The need for paid leave has only become more clear during the pandemic.

In the last two years, workers have been forced to juggle caregiving, sick leave, and professional responsibilities, often facing impossible choices among all three. Many women, whove borne the brunt of these demands, have reduced their involvement in the workforce or left it altogether.

Democrats hope to tackle these issues with a new measure included in their Build Back Better Act. It passed the House of Representatives last week, and would guarantee US workers four weeks of paid family and sick leave, a major protection that millions of people dont currently have. At the moment, however, the provisions chances of passing the Senate are uncertain given pushback from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and the narrow margins the party has to advance legislation.

The USs recent loss of women workers has been striking. At the start of the pandemic, 3.5 million moms of school-age children temporarily or permanently left their jobs, according to the Associated Press. As of this fall, one in three women said theyve considered leaving the workforce or downshifting their jobs, according to a McKinsey study. And per data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, thousands of women still havent returned to the labor force after departing during the pandemic.

Theres a host of reasons for these departures, but as Voxs Rani Molla has reported, women are far more likely than men to have significant caregiving responsibilities. And these responsibilities have surged during the pandemic, when many women have taken on caregiving for their school-age children and sick family members.

The Build Back Better Act tries to help workers balance caregiving responsibilities, and sick leave, with work. The $1.85 trillion legislation boosts funding for child care, and makes a roughly $205 billion (over 10 years) investment in a new federal paid family and sick leave program.

By itself, the program is far from enough to address the needs that workers face, and it wont go into effect until 2024, but if enacted it could eventually help keep more women in the workforce.

The US is the only industrialized country without a comprehensive federal paid leave program, meaning workers only have access to such protections if their company or state happens to offer them. According to 2020 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 20 percent of workers have access to paid family leave, and just 75 percent have access to paid sick leave, numbers that are even lower for low-wage workers. Among lower-wage workers, 8 percent have access to paid family leave, and 49 percent have access to paid sick leave.

The effects of this federal program could be substantial: In addition to boosting womens participation in the workforce, existing paid leave programs have been found to reduce families food insecurity, improve childrens health outcomes, and reduce worker turnover.

For it to become a reality, however, the legislation still needs to make it through the Senate.

The program, which would officially launch in 2024, would guarantee four weeks (or 20 workdays) of paid family and sick leave for most workers each year.

To qualify for the program, workers will need to have made at least $2,000 over the two years prior to their application for the leave. Its a threshold that could exclude low-wage workers unable to work consistently because of caregiving responsibilities or other reasons, but New America paid leave expert Vicki Shabo notes that it would include the overwhelming majority of workers.

The program also aims to cover workers left out of the existing Family and Medical Leave Act program, which guarantees the ability to take unpaid leave. Because of the way its written, FMLA doesnt currently apply to a swath of smaller employers and certain part-time workers, exceptions this new proposal would avoid. The House paid leave policy is also accessible to people who are self-employed and members of the gig economy, as long as they meet the earnings eligibility requirements.

Anybody that satisfies that earnings and work history requirement would be eligible, and that would be critical because the very people that are left out of FMLA are the ones in the most precarious position, Shabo says.

The money paid to workers would be distributed through a couple different channels. The federal government would set up a new program run by the Social Security Administration, through which people could submit applications if their states and employers dont already provide paid leave. To apply through the federal program, workers would have to submit their leave requests up to 90 days before they take leave, or up to 90 days after they do so.

Workers whose state or employer already have paid leave programs in place would continue to receive benefits through these channels. The federal government would then reimburse those states and companies.

This policy design is intended to fill in current gaps while making sure companies and states that already offer paid leave programs arent disincentivized from doing so. The availability of these programs is pretty inconsistent right now: Nine states and the District of Columbia have implemented some form of paid family and sick leave, and roughly 25 percent of employers offer paid family leave while 68 percent provide paid sick leave, according to 2019 and 2017 Kaiser Family Foundation surveys.

The benefits a worker on leave would receive depends on their prior wages, and could be as much as 90 percent of what they were making. Workers would receive 90 percent of the first $290 they make per week, 73 percent of their next $290 to $659, and 53 percent of any additional wages between $659 and $1,192. Democrats designed the policy this way to ensure low-wage workers received the support they needed and the highest proportion of wage replacement.

Overall, the maximum amount that a worker is able to receive is capped at $814 a week, or $3,256 for all four weeks.

While past Democratic proposals have paid for this benefit using a payroll tax, the Houses program will be fully covered by revenue raisers like a new corporate minimum tax rate and a new tax on stock buybacks. The program currently isnt slated to sunset, and could run indefinitely if the revenue raisers proposed continue to cover its costs.

Four weeks of paid leave would put the US at the lower end of the spectrum relative to other countries: Although programs vary, the global average is 29 weeks of paid maternity leave and 16 weeks of paid paternity leave, according to the New York Times.

Previous research of other countrys programs found around six months to be the ideal period of time for family leave, specifically, because it allows parents to bond with their children without facing the professional backlash that a longer duration of leave can result in.

The economic effects of a federal program could also be considerable. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, women who take paid family leave are 40 percent more likely to return to work after a new child than those who do not, meaning these programs could keep a whole group of people in the workforce, boosting economic growth. The Center for American Progress has estimated that the longer-term effects of womens departures during the pandemic could be as much as $64.5 billion in lost wages and economic activity each year.

New mothers, in particular, and caregivers to seriously ill loved ones are more likely to return to work if they have access to paid leave, Shabo says.

Paid leave is facing a steep challenge in the Senate. Joe Manchin, a key moderate, has repeatedly questioned whether this policy should be included in the budget bill.

His concerns have led Democrats to pare down their original plans of a 12-week paid leave program modeled after one Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has been pushing for years.

Part of Manchins problem with the policy is that he feels reconciliation isnt the process that should be used to pass this measure. As the bill contains so many social and climate spending proposals that Republicans are against, Democrats are trying to pass it through reconciliation, which requires only majority support in both houses of Congress. Because Democrats have 50 votes in the Senate, with Manchin aboard, they could pass paid leave, and everything else in the Build Back Better Act, without a single GOP vote.

I dont think it belongs in the bill, Manchin said in a CNN interview in early November. We can do that in a bipartisan way. We can make sure its lasting.

Up to this point, attempts to find a bipartisan approach for paid leave have failed.

Historically, there have been disagreements over how to pay for the legislation, with Democrats advocating for a payroll tax to cover its costs, while Republicans have pushed for people to borrow from their future Social Security benefits. Additionally, there have been conflicts over whether the program should require employer participation or whether it should be voluntary. During the Trump administration, Ivanka Trumps attempts at a paid leave program wound up largely floundering as well, though they did contribute to Congress approving paid leave for federal employees.

Because of Manchins concerns, paid leave may well be removed from the Build Back Better Act or cut significantly. And that would be a great loss for millions of workers.

Gillibrand has said that shes hopeful a paid leave provision will wind up in the legislation even if its a narrower one than the House included.

I think Sen. Manchin and I can come together hopefully in the next couple of weeks on something that could be included in this package that would be a Democratic-only proposal that we could start with, something modest, perhaps, Gillibrand said in a CBS interview last weekend.

One way lawmakers could curb the program further is to limit how long it would last, perhaps setting a specific deadline for the program to sunset, for example. They could also slash the number of weeks the benefit would cover, or apply means testing to exclude workers making over a certain amount.

Were the proposal to be removed, it would leave millions of workers exactly where they are now: forced to choose between caregiving and their own health and income, even as the US continues to navigate a devastating pandemic.

More:
Why Democrats shouldnt cut paid leave from the Build Back Better spending bill - Vox

As recently as this summer, Joe Biden seemed to be taking a keep calm and carry on approach when it came to concerns about rising inflation.

As our economy has come roaring back, weve seen some price increases, the US president said in July. Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases weve seen were expected and expected to be temporary.

But now, with inflation hitting a 30-year high last month, Bidens tone has become noticeably less upbeat.

Everything from a gallon of gas to a loaf of bread costs more, Biden said in Baltimore earlier this month. We still face challenges, and we have to tackle them. We have to tackle them head on.

Americans are taking notice of high prices with growing alarm, and their concerns appear to be negatively affecting Bidens approval rating, which had already been falling in recent months. As the US experiences sticker shock at the gas pump and in grocery stores, Democrats are worried that inflation could imperil their legislative agenda and their majorities in Congress as crucial midterm elections loom next year.

While the president and fellow Democrats had previously sought to downplay rising inflation, it has become an unavoidable issue as prices continue to climb. The labor department has reported that prices increased by 6.2% over the past 12 months, marking the most rapid uptick since 1990. Gasoline prices have increased by 49.6% over the past year, while food prices have risen by 5.3%.

As prices rise, more working Americans are noticing their bills have become more burdensome. According to a poll conducted by the progressive firm Navigator Research this month, 54% of Americans now say the cost of groceries and gas is a major crisis, marking a 17-point increase since September.

Republicans have blamed the price increases on Bidens economic policies, arguing that rising inflation underscores the need to oust Democratic lawmakers in the midterm elections next year.

As Biden and Democrats continue to push for trillions more in reckless spending and higher taxes, skyrocketing prices and a broken supply chain under Biden are crushing American families, workers and small businesses, said Emma Vaughn, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee. Americans will soundly reject Bidens failed economic agenda at the ballot box in 2022.

There are some early signs that Republicans message is striking a chord with voters, as the party looks to take back control of Congress in 2022.

An AP VoteCast survey showed that 35% of Virginia voters named the economy and jobs as the most important issue facing the state, making it the most common response. Those voters were more likely to support the Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, who defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe by two points in the election held earlier this month.

And its not just Republicans who are sounding the alarm about price hikes. Senator Joe Manchin, one of the key holdouts in Democrats negotiations over their $1.75tn spending package, has said he is hearing more from constituents who are concerned about their gas and grocery bills.

By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not transitory and is instead getting worse, Manchin said in response to the labor departments latest report. From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.

Manchin has previously expressed concern that Democrats spending package, known as the Build Back Better Act, could negatively contribute to inflation. In a September op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Manchin warned against approving more government spending, saying, An overheating economy has imposed a costly inflation tax on every middle- and working-class American.

The Biden administration has sought to mitigate inflation-related concerns about the bill, which passed the House on Friday. The president has repeatedly touted a letter from 17 Nobel laureates in economics, which argued the spending package would ease longer-term inflationary pressures.

But the bills critics say the legislation would not address the inflation happening now and may even cause prices to rise further, urging members of Congress not to approve another large spending package.

Were not worried about the long-term. We have inflation in the here and now, and this policy will make it worse in the foreseeable future, said Curtis Dubay, a senior economist at the US Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business lobbying group that opposes the spending package.

The first rule of being in a hole is to stop digging, Dubay added. This would keep digging. So they need to not pass it.

Jason Furman, who served as the chair of the White House council of economic advisers under Barack Obama, rejected that argument. Build Back Better will have a negligible impact on inflation over the medium term, Furman said. In gross terms, the total spending is one-tenth as much per year as what we just did this year [with the coronavirus relief package]. Moreover, that spending is paid for.

For progressives, conservatives warnings about inflation seem a convenient excuse to quash a bill that they already opposed.

Natalia Salgado, the director of federal affairs for the progressive Working Families party, said the legislation would actually help average Americans deal with rising inflation by lowering their healthcare and childcare costs.

For example, the Build Back Better Act would establish universal prekindergarten for all three- and four-year-old children. It would also reduce Affordable Care Act premiums and lower drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.

If we really want to have a discussion about inflation, lets talk about the many things that this bill is going to help minimize the cost of, Salgado said. Folks coming out of this pandemic were already hurting economically. It is economically imperative to pass the Build Back Better legislation.

Democrats in Congress have echoed that message, urging those who are worried about inflation to support the bill.

House Democrats infrastructure deal and Build Back Better Act tackle inflation head on through their historic investments, said Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Rather than working to solve economic problems, Republicans have voted overwhelmingly to block these bills that reduce prices for the American people and focused instead on their own extremist agenda.

But many of the provisions of the Build Back Better bill will not go into effect immediately. The Medicare drug price negotiations will not begin until 2025, and the universal prekindergarten program will be built up over the next few years.

In the short term, it may be difficult for Biden to address rising prices. Even if the Federal Reserve moves quickly to stifle inflation, it would take months for Americans to feel the effect of the fiscal policy change. And when it comes to gas prices specifically, Biden has little sway over the global oil market, although he has called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies.

Politically, people are very sensitive to inflation in gasoline prices and food because thats just a visible item they see, Furman said. Ive been in government when gas prices are going up, and its terrible. Everyone hates you.

On the plus side for Democrats, the frequent fluctuations in gas and food prices mean those costs could decrease over the next year even if overall inflation continues to rise, Furman said.

That possibility may be Democrats best hope for maintaining control of Congress after the 2022 elections. However, if prices do not improve over the coming year, the presidents party may need to brace for an ugly election night next November.

View post:
Democrats worry inflation could imperil agenda and congressional majorities - The Guardian

Despite holding the White House and both chambers of Congress, Democrats have not yet been able to stem the tide of GOP disenfranchisement laws. Now, with time running out to pass something ahead of the 2022 midterms, the party is preparing what may be their final push to pass voter protections before next years election. Its an open question as to whether we can get to 60 votes in the Senate on voting, Hakeem Jeffries, one of the top Democrats in the House, told Axios on Sunday. And if we cant, then the Senate is going to have to make some decisions as it relates to filibuster reform.

The integrity of our democracy hangs in the balance, the House Democratic Caucus chair added.

In July, President Joe Biden described the laws Republicans have enacted in states across the country based on Donald Trumps election fraud lies as a 21st century Jim Crow assault. But while his administration has sought to defend against those attacks through the Justice Department and with voter outreach efforts, his party has failed to come up with a legislative solution. The House, where Jeffries is the number five Democrat, has teed up a voting rights package named for the late civil rights leader and congressman, John Lewis. But it has been a non-starter in the Senate, thanks to the filibuster rule that conservative Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have steadfastly refused to touch.

Previous calls to amend or abolish the filibuster, or create a carve-out for voting rights, have not moved those two hold-outs. But with the clock ticking, and dire warning signs both for the party and the state of democracybacksliding is how one international think tank described it Mondayadvocates are redoubling their efforts. Defenders of democracy in America still have a slim window of opportunity to act, more than 150 scholars said in a letter urging Democrats to pass the Freedom to Vote Act through a simple majority. But time is ticking away, and midnight is approaching.

With Senate Democrats spinning their wheels on voting rights, the party has appeared to invest its hopes for 2022 and beyond in boosting turnout enough to overcome obstacles to the ballot box. Thats never been a particularly strong strategy. We cannot out-organize voter suppression, as NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson told me back in August. But as Jeffries suggested to Axios Sunday, failure on the part of Democratic lawmakers to protect their voters could itself dampen the enthusiasm the party seems to be relying on. Asked what Democrats can tell their voters if they cant use their majorities to deliver on ballot protections, Jeffries replied: Theres no message to communicate to Democratic voters now.

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Ten months after President BidenJoe BidenUS lawmakers arrive in Taiwan to meet with local officials Biden meets with Coast Guard on Thanksgiving Five reasons for Biden, GOP to be thankful this season MORE took office, many key positions across the government lack a permanent occupant.

The White House has spent months battling Republican blockades on Bidens nominees for various positions. Several of them are candidates for critical ambassadorships that have been held up by GOP senators.

Biden also has been slow to select nominees for some key positions, while others have failed to gain enough support in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats only have the majority because of Vice President Harris.

The result is an administration that has witnessed a slower confirmation rate than its three predecessors, leaving White House officials and Senate Democrats increasingly frustrated. While many positions are filled with officials serving in an acting capacity, experts say that permanent leadership across government is important to keep up morale and allow for long-term planning.

The end result of all of this is, at a moment when we need so much from our government, we have a government that is not led with permanent officials in many instances, and thats a big problem, said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service.

Kathryn Tenpas, an expert in executive confirmations at the Brookings Institution, said that Biden is lagging behind former Presidents Trump, Obama and George W. Bush when it comes to the number of confirmed nominees in the first 300 days of his presidency by extremely significant points.

Of the 15 major departments, 140 of Bidens nominees have been confirmed, according to her research, while Trump had 158, Obama had 274, and Bush had 326 at the same point. There are 1,200 Senate-confirmed positions across the executive branch, which includes bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency that Tenpas does not track.

Confirmations are slow at the departments of State, Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense, Transportation and Treasury when comparing the Biden administration to its predecessors, she said. While the Senate has been slow to process nominations for executive departments, it has moved quicker to confirm judicial nominees than it did under Trump.

By far, the worst performance is at the State Department, Tenpas said.

Republican senators, including Ted CruzRafael (Ted) Edward CruzTed Cruz ribs Newsom over vacation in Mexico: 'Cancun is much nicer than Cabo' Biden expected to nominate Shalanda Young for budget chief O'Rourke seizes on Texas power grid in bid against Abbott MORE (Texas), have slow-walked dozens of State Department nominees, including those to ambassadorships and other senior-level posts, angering the White House.

Secretary of State Antony BlinkenAntony BlinkenRussian military buildup puts Washington on edge Russian prosecutor moves to abolish renowned human rights group CIA director says there will be consequences if Russia is behind 'Havana Syndrome' attacks MORE traveled to Africa this past week at a time when no ambassadors to African countries had been confirmed. Cruzs decision to stall the nominations is part of an effort to push the administration to impose mandatory sanctions on a Russia gas pipeline.

I think most people recognize we should have ambassadors serving in posts around the world, White House press secretary Jen PsakiJen PsakiRussian military buildup puts Washington on edge White House looks to rein in gas prices ahead of busy travel season Biden: Guilty verdicts in Arbery case 'not enough' MORE said Friday. It is frustrating, it is unprecedented, and it does certainly hurt our national security.

Instead of being able to quickly confirm these nominees by unanimous consent, the Senate must use up valuable floor time. Schumer has filed cloture on 119 nominations under the Biden administration, almost double the times cloture was filed on Trump nominees during the same period, according to statistics provided by Schumers office.

Schumer has criticized Republicans for unprecedented obstruction of Bidens nominees and warned in a recent Nov. 14 Dear Colleague letter that he could keep the chamber in session longer to push through the nominees.

President Biden deserves his full team to execute our goals at home and abroad, Schumer wrote. We will do what we need to do to get them confirmed, even if it means voting at inconvenient times.

Stier argued that process needs to be reformed so that there are less positions subject to confirmation and noncontroversial nominees can move more quickly.

Its no question that the time to confirm has doubled since the Reagan administration, that the pace has consistently slowed down among modern presidents, but at the end of the day its always been slow, Stier said.

Compounding the challenge, under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, officials who have been serving in an acting capacity in positions for which there is no nominee could only serve in those roles until this past Tuesday.

The law, passed in 1998 during the Clinton years, was designed to incentivize administrations to nominate officials for open positions within 210 days over the course of an administration or 300 days into a new administration.

While Biden has nominated officials to serve in hundreds of positions, there are over 160 positions where he hasnt named a nominee, according to a tracker from The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service.

The impact on government operations of the Vacancies Act deadline is not entirely clear. In some cases, Stier said, administrations have played verbal gymnastics to rename peoples positions but allow them to essentially keep doing the job.

Each agency has gone position by position to ensure that wherever we don't have Senate-confirmed leadership, we have appointed designated senior leaders who are prepared to perform the functions until we nominate and confirm senior officials, White House deputy press secretary Chris Meagher said last week.

The Vacancies Reform Act does not apply to the Office of Management and Budget, where Shalanda Young has served as acting director since March without Biden naming a new nominee. Young is on maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter and Jason Miller, deputy director for management, has taken over temporarily.

We are confident where we are and were getting a lot of stuff done, Miller told reporters on a recent call when asked for an update on an OMB nomination.

Biden waited until almost the latest point to name a nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration. His choice, Robert Califf, is expected to face a someone difficult process given opposition from Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinFive reasons for Biden, GOP to be thankful this season White House looks to rein in gas prices ahead of busy travel season Bernie Sanders' ex-spokesperson apprehensive over effectiveness of SALT deductions MORE (D-W.Va.) and potentially other Democrats.

The Senate is facing a busy legislative sprint to the end of the year dominated by debate over Bidens sweeping climate and social policy package after it passed the House.

Tenpas predicted there would be sustained pressure on the Senate to work through nominations going into next year, given the possibility the administration could start seeing turnover next year.

By being behind now, it only gets worst, she said. Youre going to have to start next summer filling slots the people who were confirmed early are now leaving.

Link:
Democrats frustrated by vacancies across government | TheHill - The Hill

Jon Cherry for BuzzFeed News

Cori Bush speaks at her campaign event at Scene Event Space on Nov. 12, 2021, in St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS Before she was in Congress, Cori Bush was a registered nurse. And because she was a nurse, in uniform, she says she was the one who was called over Cori! Cori! when a newborn got tossed out of a car at the feet of protesters a few years ago at a march for racial justice in Ferguson, Missouri. Bush says she tucked the baby under her arm like a football and ran behind a building where she checked on it.

Sometimes, you are put in a position where you are in the right place at the right time to save a life. But you can choose to not. Thats a choice. And so thats how I approach every single day, as a choice, Bush says as she recalls the incident. People are hurting every single moment, every single day, and we know this. So its a choice to actually go and do the work.

Bush is only about one year into her first term and is already one of the highest-profile progressives in the House of Representatives. If you saw the 2019 Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, which captured Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs winning campaign against a powerful Democratic incumbent, you also saw Bushs losing 2018 primary challenge in the Midwest. If you heard of the lawmaker who camped out on the Capitol steps over the summer and was widely credited with winning an extension of the eviction moratorium, youve heard of Bush as she is today. Most recently, Bush was one of six House Democrats to vote against the infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law on this month, withholding her vote not in objection to the bill, but in objection to the fact that Democrats had moved forward with it before the social programs bill progressives had been promised they would pass alongside it.

Bush is determined not to fit in. Her office describes her as a politivist, someone who is both a politician and an activist, trying to change the system from within. Shes willing to criticize party leaders like Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and ridicule party moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin. Shes not in Congress to move up in leadership, she says, or hoard institutional power.

But what power that leaves her with is uncertain. Progressives in Congress are in a precarious spot, trying to flex over Bidens agenda while getting heat from constituents about symbolic votes and looking down the very real possibility of being a small slice of the House minority after next years elections. The tension between her role in Congress as she sees it and the realities of the institution, her party, and its leadership are palpable.

When I was on the ground protesting, it felt like we were teeing up these balls, and nobody was there to hit the ball out of the park. So now Im like, OK, I know who tees up the balls, so Im not going to push you all away, Bush tells BuzzFeed News. You keep teeing up these balls, and Im in the position to hit them.

Bush eats lunch at Kingz Turkee Shack on Nov. 13, 2021, in St. Louis.

Bush is sitting at a two-person table in Kingz Turkee Shack, a tiny restaurant tucked in a strip mall in her home city of St. Louis. Shes wearing a T-shirt from her freshly announced reelection campaign and sparkly, mid-calf lace-up boots, and shes suggesting that a lot of the Democratic Partys woes are self-inflicted between bites of a meal that includes a tantalizing turkey leg the size of something youd find at a state fair.

If youre not willing to fight for the things that we need, stalling or stifling things because of all of this incrementalism and old ways of thinking, that is what is hurting this party.

Shes diplomatic in the way that she talks about the forces within her party hurting progressives, not that shes unwilling to name names. Earlier this month, she released a scathing statement on West Virginias Manchin, one of the two Democratic senators whove prevented the Build Back Better bill from being the sweeping social spending legislation progressives initially envisioned. She accused him of being anti-Black, anti-child, anti-woman, and anti-immigrant. (Asked if hed ever responded to the statement, whether the two lawmakers had had conversations, or what their relationship was like, Manchins office said, we dont have anything to add.) After the Build Back Better legislation passed the House last Friday, she tweeted, Senator Manchin, were looking at you. The people must win. Historically, the approach to winning people over in the halls of Congress has more often been trying to butter up the person you want on your side. Bush has little patience for that.

I dont care about looking like Im leading, or care about being the one that is staying within like, just playing the game.

Bush also presents herself as being in natural conflict with her partys leaders. If Pelosi were to decide to run to lead the Democratic caucus again after next years elections, Bush does not currently have an answer for whether shed support her. A spokesperson for Pelosi told BuzzFeed News in response to questions that "the Speaker is not on a shift, shes on a mission."

I dont wear those same glasses that she wears, Bush says of Pelosi. For me, Im not a woman first, Im Black first. I dont care about party lines the way that she does. I dont care about looking like Im leading, or care about being the one that is staying within like, just playing the game.

The weekend of the House infrastructure vote, Pelosi flew back to San Francisco and officiated the ritzy wedding of Ivy Getty, an heir of the oil fortune. Asked what she made of it, Bush prefaces by saying that she didnt know who those people were until I saw people talking about it, and she ends with saying Pelosi officiating didnt really move me either way.

My purpose is to lift up those that have been marginalized and oppressed and overlooked. And shes in a position of power, and thats more her lane I guess. Thats where her focus is, Bush says. People see things differently than others, and I have learned to not condemn people for the way they see things when they havent gone through the things that Ive gone through. Like I cant change their experiences, the only thing that I can do is expose them to mine, or those of others that they may not know or understand.

Like I cant change their experiences, the only thing that I can do is expose them to mine.

So much of Bushs approach to politics ties back to her identity as a Black woman and as an activist. Issues around racial justice are not nearly prioritized enough in Congress, she says.

Bush recognizes Biden hasnt even been in office for a full year, but she thinks he has a lot of work to do, particularly in that area. Shes candid about how disappointing it was to her that police reform talks collapsed this year. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was, in her words, not the end-all, be-all, the greatest legislation for police reform that therell ever be, and yet Congress couldn't even get that done.

He has to deliver a substantial win to the Black community as it relates to policing. He has to, because this is not even about just looking good, this is about saving lives, she says. Bush hadnt given thought to whether Biden should run for reelection, but says it would be up to him. Days after Bush's interview, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden intends to run for reelection.

If not him, the question is, who else will run? Bush says with a laugh.

Rep. Cori Bush claps as a volunteer speaks at a reelection campaign event at Urban Art on Nov. 13, 2021, in St. Louis.

Bush stands in front of a crowd in a black sequined blazer giving remarks to a group of her top supporters. Earlier in the day, shed announced that she was running for reelection, and this is the kickoff event. The booze is flowing, her family is in the crowd, and much of St. Louiss political whos who had come by to indicate their support.

When they tell me, You shouldnt say that because you hurt the Democrats. You shouldnt say that because you hurt this thing or that thing. And I say, Well, you shouldve fixed it before I got there then, Bush says to applause. So dont tell me how, what I should do now, because youve been there OK.

She cuts herself off, to the delight of the audience, but the intention of the last part is clear: a while.

She describes the day that the House moved forward with the infrastructure bill, but not a Build Back Better bill, as the absolute worst day shes had in Congress so far. Im Black girl broken, shed texted St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones. I was hurting because I couldnt believe I did the right thing that way that I did, she told an audience at the campaign event that Friday night, referring to her no vote. She told staff she wanted to be off social media and away from the news to take care of herself.

Its probably very lonely for her to be someone thats taking such a strong stand for our people, Jones, who was invited to and attended the signing of the infrastructure bill at the White House, tells BuzzFeed News. But shell tell anybody, she didnt go to Congress to play or to be somebody. She went to Congress to do something.

But that can be difficult to square with constituents, some of whom have challenged her on decisions like her no vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. On a town hall call she hosted this month focused on the Build Back Better Act, one caller asked her what progressives would do to avoid the criticism that they were the ones obstructing Bidens agenda with their no votes on infrastructure. Bush demurred, noting that she supported the bill but didnt back it because she wanted to keep leverage for the social spending bill. Another caller felt that being so focused on Build Back Better instead of touting the infrastructure bill was hurting the Democratic Party.

Bush speaks to supporters during her campaign event at Scene Event Space on Nov. 12, 2021 in St. Louis.

You even voted no to pass the infrastructure bill, which is great, its going to help St. Louis. Its going to help a whole lot of cities all over the nation. So why cant we talk more about whats in the infrastructure act and then still push for the Build Back Better? Bush again reiterated her position that both were necessary, and that the focus on the social policy bill was because it was the one whose fate was more uncertain.

Around Congress, Bush is known as part of the expanded version of the Squad of progressives pushing Democrats to go for bigger initiatives than political reality may always allow. Though they are reflective of the diversity within the party, voters have often rejected their ideas and preferences from the presidential primary in 2020 to local issues like a recent ballot amendment in Minneapolis that was endorsed by Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the Squad members, to replace the police department with a department of public safety. All of the Squad members represent Democratic districts; several, like Bush, knocked out incumbents to turn an already-Democratic district into something even more so, versus flipping a conservative or swing district. They are often used in Republican messaging to get a rise out of their base, and often those attacks are racist.

Thats the only problem I see with that kind of passionate commitment to positions. You gotta count on being frustrated.

In inquiries for insights into Bush from other lawmakers, BuzzFeed News was told a couple of times by members or their offices that they didnt know her very well, a reflection of the pandemic and her short time in Congress. And while Democrats acknowledge that theres a changing of the guard happening within the party and are broadly complimentary of her activist approach, it can sometimes run up against the realities of Congress.

Ive always been impressed with what she said, and I share a lot of her positions. The one thing about being that whats the best word? seemingly uncompromising is that you dont understand that in this body you never get 100% of what you want, says Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, a House committee chair who is retiring at the end of this term. If you get 80% of what you want, thats more than most people will ever get.

Thats the only problem I see with that kind of passionate commitment to positions. You gotta count on being frustrated.

Bush speaks to supporters during her campaign event at Scene Event Space on Nov. 12, 2021, in St. Louis.

Bush can at times be exactly like other politicians. When you see her on the news or hear her on the radio, what she says is very intentional and thought out. She sometimes sidesteps issues, like on the town hall call. And though her own start in politics came protesting on the streets of Ferguson, and she has shared stories of her past that are hard to imagine coming from many lawmakers but that many Americans find relatable her experience being unhoused; an abortion; what steel-toed police boots feel like as they press down on your body her exposure to politics from a young age was unusual: Her father, Errol Bush, is a Northwoods alderman. Though she says she was reticent to enter politics herself because of this up-close seat to that sharp-elbowed world, she clearly ended up changing her mind.

People back home want something different, and this system has not been working, but until its completely changed, we have to still scream and make noise, and I think thats what makes Cori unique, says Missouri state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, who met Bush while protesting in Ferguson in 2014. This approach to politics is becoming more common as younger, more diverse lawmakers enter office, some of whom, like Bush, survived a violent pro-Trump insurrection at the United States Capitol on their third day in office.

She brings the insurrection up when asked whether she agrees with Ocasio-Cortez, who was recently targeted in an anime video tweeted by a Republican lawmaker, that institutions dont protect [women of color]. Bush does agree the House, she says, has not done enough to protect members, especially when they take votes on hot-button issues. Its not just Congress where women of color arent protected, but yes, it happens there too. Earlier this week, she called for the expulsion of House Republicans who were seeking to hire Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of all charges, as an intern, arguing that every day it felt more dangerous going to work.

Bush says she understands that others have not gone through our experiences or walked through what its like to be a woman of color in America. They dont experience the vitriol and the hatred the same way. The problem, she says, is not just that you dont understand it. Its that we dont see your interest in trying to.

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Cori Bush Said The Democrats Old Ways Of Thinking Are Holding Them Back - BuzzFeed News