A planned response to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night by Rashida Tlaib, a progressive Democrat from Michigan, highlighted a rift in the party.
The president will speak to Congress and the nation from the Capitol. The Republican rebuttal will be delivered by Kim Reynolds, governor of Iowa.
Tlaib will also respond, for the Working Families party. It will not be the only Democratic response: Collin Alred of Texas will speak for the Congressional Black Caucus.
One moderate Democrat, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, said Tlaib’s decision to speak was “like keying your own car and slashing your own tires”.
Tlaib said: “Despite some sensational coverage, it’s simple: I’m giving a speech about supporting President Biden and his Build Back Better agenda for the people.”
Build Back Better, valued at $1.75tn and meant to improve health and social care and address the climate crisis, passed the House with moderate support. But it stalled in the Senate, opposed by Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Biden’s State of the Union address will be overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But he is expected to reframe his domestic ambitions. Tlaib will highlight the cost of not passing Build Back Better.
The Working Families party was formed in 1998 by unions and other groups. It aims to “build our own party on top of the two-party system in the United States”, sometimes running candidates in Democratic primaries, seeking to build “the multiracial movement we need to win the America we deserve”.
On Monday, Maurice Mitchell, the party’s national director, said: “Obstructionist Republicans and a handful of corporate Democrats have ground Washington to a standstill while child poverty spikes and costs continue to rise for housing, healthcare and childcare.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Gottheimer played a prominent role in negotiations over Build Back Better and Biden’s $1.2tn infrastructure plan, which passed with Republican support.
He is scheduled to participate in his own event after the State of the Union, a “Problem Solvers Perspective” streamed on Facebook by No Labels, a group founded in 2010 to provide “a rebellious but constructive third force in American government”, aiming to “break the gridlock and dysfunction that is destroying our democracy”.
Gottheimer told Axios Tlaib’s speech would be “massively counterproductive”.
He added: “This only highlights the real tension between the socialist far left and the common-sense moderate wing, which is focused on crime, costs, tax cuts and affordability and turning the page on Covid.”
Filemon Vela, a Texas Democrat, said it was “astonishing” that the “radical left continues to promote a Democratic death wish, and sees no problem relegating our party to the permanent minority”.
Tlaib said Americans should “look past the headlines and hear progressives’ vision for working with the president and Congress to deliver for our residents”.
Biden will deliver his first State of the Union with his approval rating at new lows and with Republicans favoured to re-take the House in November.
This piece was amended on 2 March 2022, to remove a reference to Senator Kyrsten Sinema opposing Build Back Better. While the senator did not say she would vote for the measure, she did not say she opposed it either.
