Democrats in the U.S. Congress remained deeply divided on Tuesday over whether to fall in line behind President Joe Biden‘s wounded reelection campaign or urge him to step aside because of persistent questions about his health and acuity.
The party’s leaders in the U.S. Senate and House, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, said little about hours of closed-door talks among Democratic lawmakers, who in any event lack the authority to push the 81-year-old president aside even if they agreed on a course of action.
Biden’s halting June 27 debate performance against Republican Donald Trump and low public approval have raised fresh doubts among some Democrats about his ability to win the Nov. 5 election or to keep up with the demands of his grueling job for another 4-1/2 years.
Representative Mikie Sherrill became the seventh House Democrat to call on Biden publicly to drop out of the race, saying in a statement, “The stakes are too high – and the threat is too real – to stay silent.”
Many more have expressed worries that Biden has not done enough in the ensuing days to convince voters that the debate was an aberration, rather than a true reflection of his abilities.
But the president continues to argue that he is best positioned to defeat former President Trump, 78, whom he casts as a singular threat to American democracy.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer brushed off questions about Biden’s fitness, saying three times, “I’m with Joe,” during a brief exchange with reporters after Senate Democrats met over lunch to discuss the president’s campaign.
House Minority Leader Jeffries, whose members huddled behind closed doors for nearly two hours to debate the path forward, told reporters that the meeting gave Democrats the chance to speak in a “candid and comprehensive fashion” and that the discussions would continue throughout the week.
Asked whether House Democrats were on the same page, Representative Steve Cohen replied as he exited the meeting: “We’re not even in the same book.”
Reprinted from Reuters
