Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
On the brink of voting for a bipartisan deal to avert a devastating economic collapse, Democrats appear to have a deliberate strategy: keep it cool.
Don’t gloat. Don’t brand the compromise legislation as a win. Don’t brag about the spending cuts and policy changes Republicans failed to squeeze in, even as they held the U.S. economy hostage in order to succeed.
For Democratic lawmakers, that essential task isn’t hard. Very few, if any, view the bill—which raises the government’s debt limit in exchange for spending cuts and other GOP priorities—as a complete win. Plenty are still steaming about the fact that President Joe Biden negotiated in the first place.