Democrats stare down nightmare September

“War Room” host Stephen K. Bannon encourages everyone to read this story from thehill.com to get a sense of how worried Democrats are that the Biden regime is nearing collapse.

Democrats stare down nightmare September

Democrats are staring down a nightmare September, a month jam-packed with deadlines and bruising fights over their top priorities.

The numerous legislative challenges in a condensed timeline will test Democratic unity and provide plenty of opportunities for Republicans to lay political traps just a year out from the 2022 midterm elections, where they are feeling increasingly bullish about their chances.

When lawmakers return to Washington, they’ll have to juggle averting a government shutdown in a matter of days with Democrats’ self-imposed deadline for advancing an infrastructure and spending package that is at the center of President Biden’s economic and legislative agenda and sparking high-profile divisions.

That’s on top of a looming decision about the debt ceiling, a voting rights clash set to come to the Senate floor in mid-September, lingering Afghanistan fallout and, in the wake of a controversial Supreme Court decision, a heated fight over abortion.

“I think it’s a full agenda,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told The Hill.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) added that the Senate’s schedule would be “crowded” but that they were “getting used to working weekends and we’re going to continue to.”

Senators are scheduled to return to Washington on Monday, though they’ll only be in for three days that week because of Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday. The House is set to return on Sept. 20.

That leaves Democrats little time to finalize a massive $3.5 trillion spending package before key deadlines set by leadership in both chambers.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has given his committees until Sept. 15 to finalize their parts of the spending package so that Democrats can then start negotiating the bill within the 50-member caucus.

And, as part of a days-long standoff, House moderates got a commitment to bring up the other piece of Biden’s package, a roughly $1 trillion Senate-passed infrastructure bill, for a vote by Sept. 27, just days after they return from a weeks-long summer break.

But Democrats are still trying to lock down how to pay for the package, bridge divisions on shoring up the Affordable Care Act and expanding Medicare, draft immigration reform language and iron out sections on climate change.

There are already high-profile warning signs amid simmering tensions between moderates and progressives — neither of whom Schumer or Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can afford to lose if they are going to get the two bills to Biden’s desk.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) threw the latest wrench into the $3.5 trillion package when he called for a “pause” on the bill last week and warned that he likely couldn’t support the price tag. In a 50-50 Senate, and Republicans unified in opposition, Democrats can’t afford to lose Manchin.

“Let’s sit back. Let’s see what happens. We have so much on our plate. We really have an awful lot. I think that would be the prudent, wise thing to do,” Manchin said at a West Virginia Chamber of Commerce event on Wednesday.

“I know they’re going to go nuts right now … because what I said is going to all my caucus in Washington,” Manchin added, referring to his Democratic colleagues. “But I’m thinking of it from the standpoint of where we are as a nation today.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has also warned repeatedly that she doesn’t support a $3.5 trillion top-line figure.

Both Sinema and Manchin have urged the House to move the $1 trillion bipartisan bill separately.

But any push to go below $3.5 trillion, or delay the timeline for passing the bill, is a nonstarter for progressives, who quickly rejected Manchin’s suggestion.

READ THE FULL STORY at The Hill.