Democrats must act now now because divisions within the party could still make it hard to pass what they want — even if they win back the House in the 2026 midterm elections, said Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif.
Harder, in May, joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers to launch the 30-member Build America Caucus, aimed at cutting red tape and speeding up infrastructure projects.
“We’ve got to get stuff done right now, even under a Republican trifecta,” Harder said during a panel appearance at the New Liberal Action Summit on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, there are so many parts of the Democratic Party that are still very opposed to this agenda that if we flip the House, some of these problems may be more difficult to solve — which is a little frustrating to say as somebody who deeply wants to do that.
“We have to win the hearts and minds.”
Harder’s idea builds on some Democrats’ interest in the concepts laid out in “Abundance,” a book by columnists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson.
Still, Harder said he’s “very optimistic” about the work the caucus is doing, “especially on housing and the ‘Road to Housing’ package that recently passed the Senate.”
“We’re building up momentum on the House side of that bill, which includes some of my legislation as well as many other members’,” he said.
“It’s a hodgepodge of 27 different bills that would lead to 1 million new homes being built in America — an exciting foundation for the first time passing federal housing policy since 1972.
“It’s been over 50 years since we’ve had a major pro-housing bill passed in the U.S. Congress. And on energy, there has been so much conversation about permitting reform for many years.”
“I think this is probably our best opportunity to make sure we’re building toward a real, permanent reform package,” he added.
Harder said it has been “a little bit difficult to negotiate with an administration that is opposed to actually building energy projects that already have dollars appropriated for them,” but added that “should be something absolutely at the center of the Venn diagram of a bipartisan approach — that we can get things done right now even without winning any more elections, and there’s a lot more behind that.”
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