Democrats Mix Politics With Policy Rollout in Virginia
'Better Deal' agenda seeks to unite Democratic factions
Posted Jul 24, 2017 5:24 PM
BY NIELS LESNIEWSKI AND BRIDGET BOWMAN
BERRYVILLE, Va. — The visit by House and Senate Democrats to a rural Virginia county that voted for President Donald Trump wasn’t technically all about politics, but they were unavoidable.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California led off the event on a sunny summer afternoon in a small town park next to a public library to unveil the agenda Democrats are calling “a better deal.”
“This is not simply aimed at 2018. This is what we feel America needs. And you’ll find in the House and in the Senate we will be offering amendments. We will be having lots of different kinds of fora to spread the word,” Schumer said. “If our Republicans don’t come around and help us, as Nancy mentioned, yeah, I think that this will hurt them.”
It was a rare venue where Mark Warner, Virginia’s senior senator, could draw more applause than liberal firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren of another Commonwealth (Massachusetts). And while Warner focused his remarks on pillars of the agenda regarding job training and research and development, he also noted the ever-present politics on his home turf.
“You know, we’re here talking about what we’re going to try to do as Democrats in Washington, but the truth is in Virginia we never get any time off. We have very important state elections this year,” Warner said, getting cheers for a pair of Democrats running for the House of Delegates, and calling for Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam to be elected governor this November.
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http://www.rollcall.com/news/democrats-mix-politics-policy-roll-virginia
