, coupled with repeat acknowledgements that his opposition “ain’t your father’s Republican Party” and is, in fact, peppered with “MAGA extremists.” It’s this line of thinking that yielded trillions of dollars in historic climate and COVID recovery spending and student-debt relief. The second is more instinctual for him after half a century in D.C.: the dealmaking posture he honed in the Senate.
The predictable short-term result of this shift on Capitol Hill has been renewed lefty concerns that he will ultimately cede too much ground on spending caps, work requirements, and the duration of the next debt-ceiling hike. As progressive congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has been widely quoted as warning, “We didn’t elect the Joe Biden of 1986 and 1996, we elected the Joe Biden of 2020.
The talks have progressed with the two of them working together directly, but this too feels predestined to many close to the administration as the debt deadline approaches. They remain frustrated to be in the situation of talking about spending cuts in the first place, but they insist that Biden is not negotiating over the debt itself, with default no longer seeming like a real possibility in their eyes. “You don’t negotiate the debt ceiling, but younegotiate.