Hours after clinching an initial budget victory, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer conceded Wednesday that Democrats face a tough pathway to delivering a package surging $3.5 trillion into family, health and environment programs to President Joe Biden’s desk.
Schumer, D-N.Y., made the remarks after the Senate approved a budget resolution outlining Democrat’s 10-year plan for transforming the government into an engine focused on helping lower- and middle income people and slowing the planet’s ominously warming temperatures.
The real test will be when Democrats write and vote on subsequent legislation actually enacting the party’s priorities into specific spending and tax policies. To succeed, Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will have to satisfy competing demands from party moderates worried about a fat price tag and progressives demanding an all-out drive for their priorities, all with virtually no margin for error in the narrowly divided Congress.
“We still have a long road to travel,” Schumer told reporters, turning to a football analogy. “It’s as if we caught a nice long pass at midfield, but we still have 50 yards to go before we score a touchdown.”
