The Democrats' Agenda, and the Art of the Possible - By the NYT Editorial Board
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD JULY 24, 2017
Remember that little booklet Paul Ryan used to wave around with the Republicans’ insipidly branded economic agenda, “A Better Way”? Now Democrats have an agenda called “A Better Deal.”
This semantic similarity neatly encapsulates how scarce better ways and better deals have been in this gridlocked Congress. The agenda Democrats began rolling out on Monday actually shares some ideas — job training, lowering drug prices, help for working families — with the Republicans’ stated but so far unrealized priorities. But the minority Democrats won’t accomplish much, if anything, on this list without Republican assistance. Democratic leaders say they’ve asked their Republican counterparts and President Trump for help, but that nobody on that side of the fence seems much interested in anything besides squandering the calendar (and their credibility) on a mindless effort to repeal Obamacare. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s campaign promise for a $1 trillion infrastructure overhaul, a job-creation effort Democrats are eager to talk about, goes nowhere.
Democrats need to keep trying, no matter how Sisyphean the effort, if only to show that at least one party has more interest in getting something done for struggling Americans than in positioning itself for the 2018 election. And why isn’t Mr. Trump, who is counting bills to rename post offices as legislative achievements, turning to Democrats for help on initiatives they and he support?
Some items are less open to compromise than others. Democrats want a $15 federal minimum wage — a worthy goal that is a nonstarter in this Congress. Democrats are going further than their two past presidents in promising to crack down on monopolies and mega-mergers that deprive consumers of choice and workers of bargaining power. But their pledge to create a “trust buster” to “stop abusive corporate conduct and the exploitation of market power” seems more populist talking point than legislative possibility — and the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department’s antitrust division already have those powers.
Family leave is another Democratic priority, favored in sketchy form by Ivanka Trump. The Democrats’ plan, championed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, is a comprehensive one that covers people caring for aging parents as well as new mothers and fathers. It’s not clear that Ms. Trump has any real plan for pushing family leave, but if the goal is to accomplish this, rather than campaign on the issue, Democrats should test her resolve.
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