WASHINGTON — For all the ire directed by liberal activists at two moderate senators who in recent weeks scuttled President Joe Biden’s most ambitious plans, Democratic members of Congress increasingly cast blame on another duo for the failures, raising questions about whether the party can resurrect the centerpiece of its agenda.
Some frustrated Democrats say strategic blunders by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and White House chief of staff Ronald Klain were, in large part, to blame for Biden failing to win passage of a massive social spending and climate plan. The men too frequently sought to appease progressives and their allied groups while antagonizing the moderates needed to pass the legislation, known as Build Back Better, they say.
After that bill died in December, leaving Democrats reeling, Schumer and Klain doubled-down on the same strategy, pivoting to a quixotic showdown over voting rights that further alienated the moderate lawmakers they still need to revive at least part of the spending plan.
