Former President Donald Trump poked fun at the internal divisions tearing apart the Democratic Party on Saturday.
Mr. Trump, who is seen as the frontrunner for Republicans in 2024, released a statement mocking far-left Democrats for getting rolled by their more moderate colleagues on President Biden’s domestic agenda.
“It’s wonderful to see the moderate Democrats take such total advantage of the ultra-liberal progressives in the House,” said Mr. Trump. “They promised the progressives everything and are giving them nothing.”
The former president added it was no surprise that some far-left Democrats, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and other members of the Squad, we’re increasingly critical of party leaders.
“No wonder AOC +3 are so angry,” said Mr. Trump.
The statement comes after a heady week on Capitol Hill where Mr. Biden’s domestic agenda made slight progress before being foiled, once again, by Democratic disunity.
Mr. Biden, after months of delay, shocked many earlier this week by announcing he had the basis for a deal on his long-sought social welfare and climate change bill. While the package’s overall price tag was far short of the $3.5 trillion originally proposed, Mr. Biden heralded the compromise that would bring together his fractured Democratic Party.
“No one got everything they wanted, including me, but that’s what compromise is,” Mr. Biden said. “I know how deeply people feel about the things that they fight for, but this framework includes historic investments in our nation and in our people … they’re truly consequential.”
Despite the rhetoric, however, members of Mr. Biden’s party refused to accept the compromise at face value.
Far-left Democrats, most notably, are fretting over everything that’s been cut from the deal. From free community college to a millionaire’s tax, the proposal negotiated by Mr. Biden is short on liberal priorities.
In several media appearances earlier this week, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez described the framework as “slashed” to the bone and “thinly sliced.”
A particular sticking point is Mr. Biden’s decision to jettison a federal guarantee for every worker to receive between 4-to-12 weeks of paid leave. The decision came after significant pushback from Sen. Joe Manchin III, a West Virginia Democrat and key swing vote.
Since Democrats are planning to push the package through Congress along party lines using budget reconciliation, a process allowing spending measures to pass the 50-50 Senate by a simple majority, Mr. Biden could not afford any disagreement.
After months of back and forth negotiations, Mr. Biden bowed to political reality. The White House tailored its compromise to suit the two lawmakers least likely to support it, Mr. Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a moderate Democrat from Arizona.
Progressives are not happy with the situation, however. Many are working overtime behind the scenes to shoehorn their pet initiatives into the final bill.
“Until the bill is printed, I will continue working to include paid leave in the Build Back Better agenda,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat.
Disagreement over the reconciliation bill also dashed hopes for passing a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal. Those plans were upended by far-left Democrats, who have linked the infrastructure bill to reconciliation by demanding both pass at the same time.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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