Vulnerable Democrats push for local priorities in budget – By Thomas Beaumont (AP News) / Sept 12 2021
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa was slow to get behind a $1 trillion infrastructure bill after the Senate passed it last month. It wasn’t the price tag that tripped up the Democrat from a swing House district. It was that none of the money was targeted for a home state industry — ethanol and biodiesel.
Axne set out to fix that. In the weeks since, she won assurances from congressional leaders that a separate multitrillion-dollar budget blueprint would include money for the renewable fuels. She’s now on board.
Her biofuels bargain underscores the political strategy embedded in the negotiations over massive new federal spending.
While Democrats have set out to pass ambitious bills with historic expansions of the social safety net and long-sought new programs, that’s not how many politically vulnerable Democrats such as Axne are selling them at home. For them, Washington’s spending boom has become a chance to deliver the goods — and win headlines and perhaps bipartisan support in their districts.
