A far-left Democratic group is mounting a “#NoHoneymoon” campaign to hold President Biden’s feet to the fire to ensure he backs their socialist-style agenda.
RootsAction, a liberal activist network claiming 1.2 million supporters in the U.S., has enlisted several prominent liberals to its cause, including Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream; Robert Reich, labor secretary in the Clinton administration; and Carmen Yulin Cruz, former mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico; among many others.
The leftist pull on Mr. Biden complicates his public calls for unity, as any outreach by his administration to Republicans likely will anger the Democratic Party’s liberal faction represented in the #NoHoneymoon movement.
“There must be no honeymoon for Joe Biden because starting on Day One, you and I and everybody else have got to mobilize and organize and put maximum pressure on the Biden administration,” Mr. Reich said in a video from the group this week.
Many of the activists leading the charge are former supporters and surrogates for Sen. Bernard Sanders’ failed presidential campaign. The RootsAction team led an anti-Trump campaign before the November election and views its next steps as opposing Mr. Biden, too.
“The “Vote Trump Out” campaign always had a second part to it — “Then Challenge Biden,” reads the #NoHoneymoon group’s website. “We are now fulfilling that commitment by organizing throughout the United States for a truly progressive agenda.”
Among the items atop the political agenda are stopping a pair of Mr. Biden’s nominees from being confirmed by the Senate. RootsAction is working to scuttle former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s nomination to lead the Department of Agriculture, as he previously did during the Obama administration, and has mobilized against Victoria Nuland’s nomination for undersecretary of state for political affairs.
The #NoHoneymoon group also wants to end qualified immunity protections for law enforcement from legal liability, get all student loan debt canceled and have the government pay Americans $2,000 stimulus checks every month.
“We deserve health care, not just ‘wealth care’ in this world’s wealthiest nation,” said Victoria Dooley, a former surrogate of Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent, in the #NoHoneymoon video released this week. “We deserve a guarantee of a better tomorrow, not just Status Quo Joe.”
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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