Why deadlines and Washington's ways don't always go hand-in-hand
WASHINGTON (SBG) – While presidents always have goals, for President Joe Biden, two early ones are falling short.
One year after George Floyd’s death, Biden’s self-imposed deadline for major police reform is still unmet, and this upcoming Memorial Day weekend goal on infrastructure is elusive too.
"As president, you have to lay out an agenda so you’re communicating with your allies, with your own party, about what you would like to get done because these things don’t just turn on a dime," explained Rodell Mollineau, Democratic Strategist, ROKK Solutions. Congress is many things, nimble is not one of them, and you have to take that into consideration when setting these deadlines."
While police reform and infrastructure may have come too quickly for Congress, Biden has other targets ahead, like the July 4 goal of vaccinating 70 percent of U.S. adults and getting closer to "back to normal," and pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11.
But looming deadlines can sometimes cause lawmakers to abandon bipartisanship.
"I don't think we have a seriousness on the part of the Republican leadership," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. "If they're not coming forward, we've got to go forward alone."
Some Republicans think the president "misjudged" the results of the 2020 election.
"We got a 50/50 Senate," said Sen. John Coryn, R-Texas. "They’re trying hard to keep up with the demands of their more progressive or radical base and fading in harder and harder to deliver."
Standoffs and outside factors, pundits say, make marking the calendar – especially about unknowns like COVID-19 – a sometimes perilous projection.
Mollineau says Biden’s desire to pass bills with bipartisan support, not just push them through on Democrats’ terms, means they often will take more time.
