House Dems park in Philadelphia bruised by potholes

PHILADELPHIA — House Democrats planned to pull into town for their retreat toting a shiny spending victory. Instead they limped up the I-95 corridor near midnight after getting stalled in a familiar intraparty jam.

Now that at least some members have made it to the City of Brotherly Love, things won’t get much sunnier: Democrats will spend the next two days behind closed doors trying to shape a message they hope will blunt at least some of the GOP’s headwinds ahead of the midterms.

Simply put, they’re seeking what’s eluded them for months: sustained party unity.

That goal became more urgent Wednesday after a rank-and-file revolt exposed lingering Democratic frustrations with the White House and leadership — illustrating the rocky path ahead for any more of President Joe Biden’s agenda on the floor this year. Even the members trying for a positive spin on the daylong retreat delay were hard-pressed to sound optimistic about a year of lofty hopes that crashed into harsh political reality.

“I’ve only spent the last year in Congress,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) said. “This is the only kind of Congress I know.”

The caucus was already frustrated by Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) nationally televised guillotining of a social spending blueprint it struggled to pass late last year. Then things got more angsty this week: a congressional push to ban Russian oil, leading to a rare public standoff with the White House, followed by party leaders’ last-minute yanking of a White House-negotiated deal on Covid relief.

As bad as Wednesday went, though, it could have gone much worse. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team surprised many in the caucus with a last-minute rally to push through a $1.5 trillion bipartisan spending deal earlier than expected that allowed more than a hundred members to board buses to Philadelphia on Wednesday night after all.

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke warmly of the legislative package House Democrats dragged over the finish line. “[Government] funding, we’re going to Philly … it doesn’t get better than that,” Beatty said. “And we can thank Nancy Pelosi for all of it.”

As soon as Democrats decided to remove the contentious Covid provisions, Democrats knew they would have the votes to clear the government funding bill. But the more immediate question was whether the caucus could still leave for their retreat. If it was canceled, for instance, they would have needed to get some members’ luggage back from Philadelphia.

And moving the caucus’ transportation to Thursday wasn’t exactly an option, given what appeared to be a bus shortage due to ongoing college basketball tournaments, according to multiple people familiar with the arrangements. Getting to Philadelphia before dawn was hardly the entrance Pelosi’s members planned to make, however.

“This retreat is cursed,” quipped Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), when asked about how the day played out as he left the House floor.

Pocan was one of more than a dozen Democrats whose fury over the funding mechanism for a central piece of the spending deal’s pandemic aid forced its removal from the bill outright. His participation in that pushback was particularly notable given his seat on the Appropriations Committee, which crafted the entire funding legislation.

Its implosion earlier Wednesday came at a deeply inopportune time for House Democrats who were already grappling with political liabilities mostly beyond their control — including rising inflation and a humanitarian disaster in Ukraine. Buses lined up outside House office buildings ready for House Democrats to decamp to Philadelphia, but they sat empty for hours as leaders and staff stressed over shifting logistics.

“We step on ourselves,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) quipped after the spending bill vote was steered back on track. “It’s frustrating because what we’re doing is so important and is going to make such a difference. Very often, events unfold that distract from really, the important work we’re doing.”

Before members began arriving in Philadelphia, the number of Capitol Police vehicles and personnel camped at their hotel gave the illusion of a major congressional event. But reporters who left early during the spending-bill nightmare, and some aides, were the only Capitol Hill creatures in sight.

Once more members get to town, they’ll be sitting down for sessions with top Biden administration officials and sketching out strategy on everything from inflation to immigration reform in what could be the final months of unified Democratic control of government. Meanwhile, a Russian war on Ukraine and spiking consumer costs are heightening Democrats’ pessimism about their chances in November.

It’s a contrast with last year’s gathering, when House Democrats huddled with loftier policy aspirations for Biden’s agenda, just a week after clearing a roughly $2 trillion Covid relief bill.

After the massive bill was finally on track Wednesday night, the party tried to focus on that deal that took seven months to negotiate with the GOP — a $1.5 trillion accord that showers cash on nearly every domestic program. The Biden administration will get to start doling out money as part of its huge infrastructure deal. Democrats will get billions of dollars in earmarked projects for their districts for the first time in a decade.

Asked whether he was frustrated that Wednesday’s internal objections had pulled attention from the funding agreement, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said, “of course I am … But that’s the way the legislative process works, you’ve got people who have significant interests and legitimate concerns, and we’ve tried to address those, and we think we have.”

Indeed, some Democrats see their retreat as a chance to do more than mingle socially outside the capital for the first time since 2019. The gathering also gives them a chance to cool their own progressive-centrist discontent and bridge divisions that consumed much of their first year in power. That includes House Democrats’ relationship with Biden, who will address them on Friday.

“I think it’s just a chance for us to come together and figure out what the plan is for the year and to really make sure we’re on the same page around the core messaging for us as Democrats,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who had been at the center of the bruising fights over Biden’s agenda between progressive and moderate Democrats.

Katherine Tully-McManus reported from Philadelphia; Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu reported from Washington.

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