WASHINGTON (AP) – Elected President Joe Biden is facing the daunting task of easing a newly announced $ 1.9 billion coronavirus bill by a narrowly divided Congress as the pandemic and its economic consequences grow.
Now Biden will have to do it with President Donald Trump’s indictment that could potentially begin as soon as his first day in office.
The confluence of events amounts to one of the most politically and logistically complicated openings for a new government in modern history, requiring Biden to try to move the country into a post-Trump era, even as senators debate Trump ‘s most divisive acts.
“It’s going to be incredibly challenging,” former Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor told a Democrat. “There’s just as much bandwidth in Congress.”
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who will play a key role in leading Biden’s agenda through the Senate as chairman of the Budget Committee, stressed how much is happening in the Democrats’ office during the first few months.
“We do not have the time to spend a lot of time on indictment, and then we go to Biden’s nominees and then we have to deal with legislation,” the independent senator said. “We’ll have to move in a whole bunch of areas at once.”
Biden has so far largely stayed out of public deliberation over Trump’s accusation of inciting a riot. After the vote on the House, Biden was vigorously denouncing the violent attack on the Capitol that accused him, but he also said he would work as president to ensure that Americans “stand together as a nation “- and an appeal to the Senate to” find a way to deal with their constitutional responsibilities regarding accusation while also working on the other urgent matters of this country. ‘
His practical approach to the matter is consistent with his position during the campaign and in its transition, even though Trump’s ever-growing controversies have overwhelmed the news cycle.
Biden took his time to endorse Trump’s first accusation in 2019, and only expressed support for the move weeks after speaker Nancy Pelosi launched the formal effort. Decades earlier, when Richard Nixon was charged, Biden had warned his colleagues in the Senate to consider the weight of the moment and give Nixon a fair trial.
Democrats on Capitol Hill say they largely want to see Biden continue his steady approach and focus on his agenda, rather than on accusation, once he takes office.
“The elected president Biden has a big task. So let him do his job – and let the Senate do their job, “said California Democrat Barbara Lee.
But once the proceedings begin, it’s certainly harder for Biden to avoid them altogether, with the trial dominating the news cycle and forcing his former opponent back into the spotlight, even as Biden tries to stay focused on the coronavirus pandemic.
And there is the prospect that they could further aggravate the already laden atmosphere on Capitol Hill, by politicizing Biden’s agenda and making it harder for him to gain support from winning Republican senators.
“Trump’s most ardent supporters are going to have the opportunity to attack Democrats, not for their programs and not for their ideas, but as the evil caricature they came to portray,” said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History. , said. at Southern Methodist University. “People who could possibly get votes for some of Biden’s legislative agenda will be much more reluctant to cooperate with the Democratic plans, while the Democrats are openly vilified.”
Biden was known as a trader in the Senate and had a long relationship with many Republican senators after his 36-year career there. He was also in contact with the leadership of both parties during the transition. But as Virginia Senator Mark Warner points out, there is a risk that accusations will poison Biden’s well with those senators who do not know him well.
“At least half of the Republican caucus has never served with Joe Biden,” said Warner, a Democrat. “His ability to navigate with the new members, if driven by their first impression of what can ultimately be decided on biased lines, will complicate his work.”
For now, Biden remains focused on his agenda.
Announcing his COVID-19 emergency relief package on Thursday, he stressed that he hopes to work with lawmakers from both parties and expressed optimism that “we are ready to get it done, despite the $ 1.9 price tag. billion. “
“I know what I’m just describing is not coming cheap, but we simply can not afford not to do what I suggest,” Biden said.
And the Democrats on Capitol Hill are also moving forward, refusing to accept the prospect that accusations will deter them from their legislative goals.
“What the Senate is going to have to do is show the world that it can run and chew gum at the same time,” Sanders said.