House Democrats are banding together this week in opposition to President Trump’s 2020 budget proposal, but the unity may prove to be short-lived as party leaders prepare their own budget blueprint in the weeks ahead.
Democrats are coming off of a trying week following an uproar over controversial remarks from freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) — an episode that both distracted from their ambitious legislative agenda and exposed internal fissures within the diverse caucus.
Trump’s budget has provided the party a chance to regroup, as Democrats of all stripes are bashing the president’s spending wish list and using the document as a way to unite around their shared values.
Yet drafting their 2020 budget blueprint will be much tougher for Democrats than attacking that of the president, forcing the party to make formal endorsements of their own policy priorities amid simmering internal disagreements over how best to approach health care, immigration, climate change and a host of other thorny issues.