Sixteen senators have formed a bipartisan group of moderates in hopes of boosting their influence to reach deals and break legislature gridlock in Washington D.C., The Hill reported on Monday.
Commenting on the Senate's slimmest of Democrat majorities, Sen. Joe Manchin, the most outspoken Democrat centrist in the upper chamber, said “The numbers are so tight ... We’ve got a golden opportunity to make it work ... And our bipartisan, bicameral group is going to be a force.”
Republican Sen. Todd Young, also a member of the group, said he “thought there would be opportunities to identify common ground on a whole host of different issues” with the Biden administration.
House moderates are also attempting to strengthen their influence, as the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus added 16 members to increase its total to 56.
The Senate will particularly need a moderate push to get anything done, since Democrats require the backing of at least 10 Republicans to pass most legislation unless they do away with the legislative filibuster.
Their first problem appears to be finding a bipartisan compromise on another round of coronavirus relief.
Sen. Chris Coons, who is not part of the group but is a close ally of President Joe Biden, said last year’s work on coronavirus legislation shows the potential for moderates to be a force, explaining that “After eight months in which there was no movement in the Senate on a COVID relief package a bipartisan group ... pulled together the deal that was actually able to overcome Majority Leader McConnell’s obstruction.”
But some Republican senators in the group have been disappointed with Biden’s proposal, another indication the president likely has a difficult task ahead of him, despite his reputation for cutting deals.
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Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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