\n<\/aside>\nAfter finally hearing progressives\u2019 calls on everything from climate change and student debt to a filibuster carve-out this year, where might Biden advance next in 2023?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s been interesting is to watch his evolution,\u201d said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill this week. It\u2019s been \u201creally good to see him absorb information, take information in, and move.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Immigration, climate, judicial nominees, overtime pay \u2014 the list is lengthy. And wondering what Biden will tackle next has progressives on the edge of their seats.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many who preferred other candidates in the 2020 presidential primary were skeptical that lifelong moderate Biden would push for their priorities, having seen him spend decades as a centrist Senate homebody. They saw more liberal contenders such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) advocate on behalf of progressive causes, and some were pessimistic about Biden\u2019s desire to work with their flank.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But as he ticked off major successes, from the American Rescue Plan to the Inflation Reduction Act, many warmed to the idea that Biden could indeed become something akin to the FDR-style leader he now aspires to be. The more he accomplished, the more the left wing offered its trust. And progressives started drafting longer wish lists to try their luck\u00a0in the new year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very careful in putting together our executive action list to work very closely with the administration,\u201d Jayapal said. \u201cI would say 90 percent of what was on our list was stuff that they also were very interested in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<\/aside>\nJayapal, who was just elected to another term as chairwoman of the House Progressive Caucus, was pleased about the White House\u2019s receptiveness to progressives\u2019 agenda. When legislation stalled, frequently by moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and now-Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and a small group of members in the House, she said administration officials were often enthusiastic to work on executive actions as workarounds to the narrow congressional majority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That executive approach is expected to continue and, many hope, even amplify in 2023, with Republicans soon to have a slight advantage in the lower chamber and as Democrats find ways to get more through the Senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If recent history is a guide, that collaboration \u2014 anchored by Biden\u2019s desire to be fluid and flexible on issues he resisted in the past \u2014 has been successful.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<\/aside>\nThe midterms went better than many Democrats anticipated, with the left claiming credit for pushing Biden leftward. One of progressives\u2019 biggest achievements has been an executive order to cancel tens of millions in loan debt for students. While that action is now halted and expected to be heard by the Supreme Court amid opposition from GOP state legislatures, progressives see it as proof of what\u2019s possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They also saw Biden move in a positive direction when he announced support of a carve-out to protect voting and abortion rights without the 60-vote threshold, evolving on his prior firmness around the Senate\u2019s legislative filibuster and\u00a0satisfying\u00a0many in the party who had begged him to take that stance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president has had a pretty damn good ending for 2022,\u201d said Douglas Wilson, a Democratic strategist based in North Carolina. \u201cHe really has.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<\/aside>\n\u201cIf the White House can be strategic about it, that\u2019s the key, it gives the president the opportunity to put legislation out there that will entice these moderate Republicans to vote with him,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd progressives, I know they\u2019re not going to want to hear this, are going to have to give him a slight bit of wiggle room. He deserves it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heading into\u00a0January,\u00a0progressives aren\u2019t naive about the challenges \u2014 from the GOP-controlled House, courts and even Biden\u2019s own moderate leanings that creep up from time to time \u2014 that may halt their more ambitious plans. But they aren\u2019t completely jaded either.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
They want to see traction on overtime pay and sick leave for rail workers, a debate that was tabled relatively quickly after Biden\u00a0signed a Senate-passed bill\u00a0that averted a\u00a0massive\u00a0strike by the nation\u2019s transportation workers. Many are hopeful that the president\u2019s commitment to unions will inspire him to address the issue in more detail in the coming year, beyond what was already passed with bipartisan support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Progressives also see room for executive antitrust action that would help prevent monopolies and boost consumer protections, an area where liberals such as Warren and Jayapal have spent considerable focus working with Biden allies. \u201cThat\u2019s been an area that I still hope we can get some work done,\u201d said Jayapal. \u201cThe administration hasn\u2019t been the holdup here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some progressives see certain moderates with outsize influence as creating additional delays for the White House to take actions into their own hands in the executive branch. Biden\u2019s willingness to appease Manchin in particular for much of his first term created a point of tension among liberals who wanted him to be more forceful in bypassing Manchin\u2019s demands.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a backlog of bold executive actions that were on pause as Joe Manchin obstructed the Democratic economic agenda,\u201d said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. \u201cThe White House went out of their way not to spook him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But some are hopeful that new opportunities may emerge from Manchin\u2019s diluted influence within a new 51-seat majority and with a slate of viable executive actions ready to be\u00a0reconsidered.<\/p>\n
Another issue where Biden has evolved\u00a0is criminal justice. The man who authored the early mid-1990s crime bill has\u00a0undoubtedly\u00a0moved to the left on the\u00a0topic,\u00a0adopting stances that are more in line with Americans\u2019 current views while still maintaining some distance from the small faction of activists who want him to be more extreme.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Biden never wanted to \u201cdefund\u201d the police, but many progressives also concede that the slogan is not practical. Instead, he lurched to the left by pledging to decriminalize marijuana and promising to \u201celiminate\u201d the country\u2019s use of a federal death penalty \u2014 an area where advocates believe there is more work to be done.\u00a0<\/p>\n