Democrats are due to return to Washington on Monday with the question of President Biden’s reelection looming large, with the party divided over whether incumbent President Biden should continue to challenge for the White House after last month’s disastrous debate.
In the House, five Democrats have publicly called on Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, and in a private call over the weekend, at least four senior senators indicated they support that course of action. In the Senate, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is trying to rally support among Democratic senators to call for Biden to step down.
Meanwhile, amid the post-debate chaos, a handful of senators in both houses of Congress have publicly backed Biden and the president himself has remained adamant about his intention to continue the campaign, creating bitter divisions within the Democratic Party over the future of its nominee with just weeks to go until next month’s convention.
Those dynamics are likely to come to a head this week as Democrats return to Congress with doubts lingering about Biden’s viability as the party’s nominee, and leaders come under pressure to address growing discontent with the sitting president.
Also this week, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill that would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade and establish a national right to abortion before the third trimester, while members of the House of Representatives are scheduled to vote on a bill that would ban foreign nationals from voting in federal elections, which is already illegal.
Biden’s problems cast a shadow over return to Congress
Two divided Democratic caucuses are returning to Washington this week in what is a tumultuous time for Democrats, with several lawmakers calling on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race and others publicly backing the incumbent and sticking to their belief that he is the best candidate to face off against former President Trump in November.
Those positions will clash when the two chambers return to Congress on Monday, marking the first time senators have returned to the Capitol to face reporters since the debate and only the second time for House members.
House Democrats are expected to begin talks Tuesday morning when their caucuses meet for the first time since the debate.
Ahead of the Sunday afternoon meeting, calls for the president to step down grew, and the committee’s ranking members, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Joe Morrell (D-N.Y.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), voiced support for a change in leadership nominees in a private call.
In addition to those four, Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Mike Quigley (D-Illinois), Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts) and Angie Craig (D-Minnesota) have publicly called on Biden to resign.
But a handful of Democrats, including leaders and veterans, have publicly supported Biden’s reelection, highlighting divisions within the party. For example, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) wrote in a statement on Sunday that “any ‘leaders’ who call on President Biden to step down need to get their priorities straight and stop disparaging this incredible, genuine leader who has delivered real results for our country.”
At the center of the debate is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (Dynamo, N.Y.), who heard a range of opinions from his caucus last week and will be peppered with questions this week about his thoughts on the issue.
Jeffries said after the debate that he didn’t think Biden should step down, but raised eyebrows a few hours later when he told reporters, “I’m not going to make any comment on the situation at this point other than to say that I support the nominee until he clearly articulates a path forward in terms of his vision for America at this point.”
Meanwhile, in the Senate, Warner is working to rally support from other Democrats in Congress to urge Biden not to seek reelection, a worrying sign for the president. Axios Warner had reportedly been leading an effort to organize a meeting on Monday night to discuss Biden’s campaign, but a source with knowledge of the Virginia Democratic Party’s thinking told The Hill on Sunday night that the meeting would not take place.
No Senate Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step down, but rifts in support are emerging. In addition to Warner’s behind-the-scenes efforts, both Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Iowa, have publicly criticized the Biden team’s response to the election’s aftermath.
Meanwhile, Biden tried to calm panic within his party through an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Friday night, but some Democrats said he failed to achieve that goal.
“The interview doesn’t allay those concerns,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “You can’t do that with one interview.”
Senate to vote on bill to protect abortion access
The Senate is set to vote this week on a bill that would create a nationwide right to an abortion before the third trimester, re-establishing protections given in Roe v. Wade and marking the latest attempt by Senate Democrats to put a spotlight on reproductive rights ahead of the election.
An aide to Senate Democratic leadership told The Hill that the Senate plans to vote on the bill later this week.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) opened the vote on a bill called the Women’s Reproductive Freedom Act last month, setting the stage for a third vote this summer to protect women’s reproductive rights.
In setting up the vote, Schumer criticized Republican stances on women’s reproductive rights, a type of messaging Democrats will often use in Congress and on the campaign trail after the Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Republicans cannot escape a simple reality: Their record on women’s health care is dangerously out of sync with the views of most Americans,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The vote on the Women’s Reproductive Freedom Act follows two Senate votes last month on bills that would have created a federal right to birth control and established a national right to in vitro fertilization (IVF), both of which were killed by Republicans.
House to vote on election bill
The House of Representatives is due to vote this week on a bill that would ban foreigners from voting in federal elections, something that is already illegal.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced the bill, titled the “Protecting American Voter Eligibility Act,” after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) met with President Trump and discussed the idea in April, when the top Republican was facing threats of expulsion from a handful of Republican lawmakers.
Johnson previously told reporters that his instincts are that non-U.S. citizens vote in U.S. elections, but since 1996, federal law has prohibited non-U.S. citizens from voting in federal elections.
During floor watch Sunday night, the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, argued that while foreign nationals are barred from voting in federal elections, some “may continue to register to vote illegally, diluting the votes of Americans and allowing foreign interference in our elections.”
That is why the current law is necessary, they argued.
“House Republicans are introducing legislation to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and allow states to remove non-citizens from voter rolls in order to prevent foreign interference in our elections, maintain election integrity, and increase Americans’ confidence in federal elections,” the floor forecast reads.
