The New Yorker: A Retiring Democrat Places Blame for Paralysis in Congress
The Kentucky representative John Yarmuth fears for the country’s democratic—and Democratic—future, but expresses some hope for President Biden’s legislative agenda.
By JANE MAYER
It was too early in the afternoon for Representative John Yarmuth, of Kentucky, to open the bottle of Larceny bourbon that he keeps in his Capitol Hill office, but the situation he described might drive anyone to drink. Yarmuth, who turns seventy-four next week, is one of a dozen House Democrats who have announced their intention to retire or seek other offices. The rush to the exits has triggered speculation that veteran Democrats believe their party’s four-vote majority in the House is doomed. Yarmuth is leaving at the peak of his power. He is the chairman of the House Budget Committee, a powerful position that takes years of seniority to gain and which gives him a central role in the protracted talks between Democratic factions which have, so far, prevented the Party from reaching a grand bargain on Joe Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda.