Talarico invokes LBJ’s legacy in pitch to the president
Three Democrats who will matter in the new Congress have put differently wrapped versions of the same offer to President Donald Trump before the session begins in January. Abdul El-Sayed dangled a gold-colored card carrying Trump’s name on a universal health care plan. James Talarico pointed to how Lyndon B. Johnson is memorialized on Capitol Hill. And Hakeem Jeffries, in line to become House speaker in January, has left the door open to working with the other side of the aisle “wherever and whenever possible” to deliver for the American people.
The offers do two jobs at once: they demonstrate that the party intends to legislate rather than only resist, and they concede that Trump’s signature is what turns a Democratic bill into law.
Talarico, the Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas, made his argument at the What’s Next conference in Denver on Thursday, where many Democrats gathered to plot their way forward. He has suggested that Trump could become a man of history like Johnson, who was seen as a master of congressional dealmaking, by describing how Johnson is memorialized on Capitol Hill and remembered for shaping civil rights and social services as a senator and president. “If President Trump wants the same plaques and portraits and busts as LBJ, we can help make that a reality,” Talarico said.
Talarico aimed his pitch at Democrats as much as at Trump. After a decade in which the party’s base has sought a repudiation of Trump, those voters may not be eager to see their newly elected leaders standing with him for a bipartisan signing ceremony at the White House Rose Garden, which he paved over to create a patio resembling his Mar-a-Lago resort. Talarico said Americans are nonetheless counting on bold changes before the next president takes office after Trump’s second term ends. “Some of these reforms may not pass until 2029, but the American people cannot wait two years for change,” he said. “So we must work with President Trump.”
El-Sayed, who won the U.S. Senate race in Michigan after Trump branded him a terrorist sympathizer, went public with his version of the offer on social media: “Donald, this is on the table. Guarantee healthcare for every American, from cradle to grave.” He attached mock-ups of a gold-colored card, with Trump’s name and signature far more prominent than the small text reading “Medicare for All.”
The policy behind the card is a heavy lift. Universal healthcare has long been anathema to Republicans, although Congress — and even the Republican president himself — will face pressure to deal with rising costs. About 6 in 10 voters nationally said the federal government should play a bigger role in helping Americans get healthcare than it does now, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 midterm voters. The costs of expanding Medicare to cover more people would depend on the scope, and Democrats have considered plans that include dropping the eligibility age to below 65 or including children and young people. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2022 that various so-called single-payer options could increase federal subsidies for health care from $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion by 2030, while the total out-of-pocket costs for patients would decline.
Trump has given the offers something to push against. He has said he doesn’t want to spend the final two years of his presidency simply vetoing bills from the Democrats in control of Congress. It was only a few short years ago, during his first term, that Trump stunned Republicans by cutting deals with the Democratic leaders he called “Chuck and Nancy” — Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. On Thursday he said he expects more of the same. “I’m going to be vetoing a lot of things that they’re going to send me initially that are bad for the country, and I think eventually they’re going to call in, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s make a deal,’ and we’ll be able to make deals on healthcare, on drug prices,” the president told commentator Stephen A. Smith in an interview.
How long Trump will sit through extended negotiations with Democrats remains an open question, and his earlier promises of dealmaking did not always pan out. His choice of Stephen Miller as his new White House chief of staff may foreclose some of those opportunities: Jeffries described Miller as a “stone-cold racist” and said he has “zero interest” in working with him.
The openness to Trump is notable coming from El-Sayed and Talarico, who were among the president’s most frequent targets as he hop-scotched the country for Republicans ahead of the midterms. He singled them out for especially personal attacks, questioning El-Sayed’s loyalty to the United States and labeling the Texan as “Talafreako.” Where the two senators land on these offers will say a good deal about how the party’s most prominent newcomers in Washington intend to deal with Trump for the rest of his presidency.
Cooper reported from Phoenix.