☀️Punchbowl News AM: Dems say it's time for the pen

[Celerity]

no link, it is a newsletter



More and more House Democrats are talking about pressing President Joe Biden to use his executive authority to enact big chunks of the party’s agenda. It demonstrates a level of frustration with how stymied the legislative process has become on Capitol Hill. And, with the clock ticking down toward the November midterms – there are 242 days until Election Day – it’s a recognition that the calendar has become one of Democrats’ biggest enemies. Here’s what we know:

→ Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said her group will release a proposed slate of executive orders next week. Jayapal wouldn’t lay out the specific proposals the group will push, but here’s what she had to say. “We’re gonna make sure that we do everything we can to cut costs for American consumers. And that means that we are going to look at executive actions, and we’re going to look at legislation. I don’t want anyone to think that we believe that executive action is better than legislation. We would always prefer to have legislation. But certainly there are a lot of areas where a) if we don’t get legislation, the administration could take action and b) the administration can take action to help move us more quickly towards the goals that we’re working on.”

→ House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn — a close Biden ally — threw his considerable political weight behind the executive action strategy on Thursday as well. “I did have a very extensive discussion on the extent to which the president may intercede on [his priorities] with executive orders. I tend to remind people all the time, that before the 13th Amendment was passed, it was in the summer 1865, slaves were freed in 1863 by executive order. So executive orders do have the power. The Armed Services were integrated by Harry Truman by executive order. I’d be very pleased if [Biden’s] legal staff could do some research on those two issues, as well as others to see whether that or not executive order can be used to accomplish some of these.

→ Rep. Raúl Ruiz (D-Calif.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Biden should lift the refugee cap by executive order in order to help Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. Ruiz also said the CHC would have other ideas for executive orders, although he declined to offer details. “The CHC has developed a strategy on executive orders, and we’re going to start negotiating with the administration very soon. There [is] a lot of capacity that we can do to reduce the backlog and to provide help for the immigrant family, women and children and help them on their path of professionalizing. “And creating a professional, humane immigration system. One of the things that we are now at the cusp is reevaluating the title 42, the omicron surge is coming down, we have the capacity to test, to use precautionary measures, including vaccines that will help us address the pandemic. “And of course, there are different ways that we can abolish the [Migrant Protection Protocols] program, which has shown to put children and vulnerable populations at risk for kidnappings, human trafficking while they stayed in Mexico. … [T]here’s gonna be more that we will discuss as soon as we have these very direct conversations with the administration. In terms of the Ukrainian war and refugees, I applaud the administration’s decision to grant TPS for Ukrainian, something that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus also called for. And those that reach our shores from now on from Ukraine should also be granted TPS status.”

[JoanofArgh]

1. I don't think Executive Actions are a good way to govern

because they’re so temporary but if there’s no other way…. More evidence that our democracy is entirely dysfunctional and falling apart.