For months, Republicans have been mocking Washington's economic situation. Republican lawmakers criticized President Joe Biden for claiming that soaring inflation and supply chain collapse have dragged down business activities.

However, now the Democrats seem to be eager to fight back. They can tout the potential benefits of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law that Biden signed earlier this month. In the short term, this means a lot of construction work. In the long run, this could mean shorter transit times and broadband access, to name a few. In addition, the backlog in major ports is decreasing, and the national unemployment rate is falling.

Biden said on Monday: “Although there is more work to be done, in the past 10 months, we have made significant progress in getting Americans back to work and getting our economy to work again.” The president announced. The above comments were made when the decision was made to nominate Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for re-election and to nominate Lyle Brainard as vice chairman.

"I believe Chairman Powell and Dr. Brainard's focus on maintaining low inflation, stabilizing prices, and achieving full employment will make our economy stronger than ever before," Biden said.

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Similarly, US Rep. Mary Newman of Illinois is also touting the economic rebound since the outbreak of COVID-19. She released a report with the Democratic members of the Joint Economic Committee, highlighting the progress made in the economy since then.

"Although there has been an increase in unvaccinated COVID-19 cases and rising inflation due to surge in demand and supply bottlenecks, the recovery is still continuing," said Newman with another Democrat, U.S. Representative Don Baier of Virginia. Stated in the joint statement.

They predict that Biden's infrastructure bill will boost the economy. They also touted the potential of the "Rebuild Better Act", which focused on economic support and social policy changes, and did the same.  

They wrote: "These huge investments in physical and care infrastructure will reduce inflationary pressures, solve supply chain problems that have existed for decades, and promote stronger, stable, and more widely shared economic growth."

Newman will face off against fellow Democrats and U.S. Representative Sean Carsten in the newly formed congressional district next year.

Casten often touts the financial interests of the Biden family. He said this will "reduce people's energy bills, revitalize our economy, and create millions of high-paying union jobs."

The chorus of Democrats returning to their electoral district this Thanksgiving holiday is also similar. The federal election is still nearly a year away, so it’s hard to say whether the Democratic Party will stick to the same theme in next year’s election campaign.

But the focus on the economy is very different from the theme that shocked many left-leaning experts in the Virginia governor’s campaign. They are not following Donald Trump or the January 6 uprising, and they are certainly not debating "critical racial theory" or school mask directives. These discussions helped Democrat Terry McAuliffe lose his bid there.

However, at the same time, Democrats did not stop at their attacks on Republicans: Republican legislators would jeopardize the health insurance of patients with pre-existing diseases.  

Of course, Republicans don’t believe Democrats’ optimistic impression of the economic outlook.

"As the holidays approach, we are facing border crises that threaten our national security, labor shortages, severe inflation-raising the cost of daily necessities for all Americans-and supply chain crises that damage our economy," the Republican Party of the United States Representative Darin LaHood (Darin LaHood), from the Peoria region, said in a statement. "President Biden and the Democrats are not taking a step back and working with Republicans to solve the problems facing American families, but are advancing the most radical legislative agenda of my life."

Americans are also in a bad mood now. According to the "Washington Post" report, 70% of people hold a negative view of the current economy, and 38% of them believe that the economic situation is "bad".  

Democrats prefer that voters feel better about the economy in 11 months' time than they do now.

After Biden appointed two new members to its board of directors last week, the U.S. Postal Service may undergo major changes. The unexpected appointment could lead to the resignation of the current postmaster Louis DeJoey, an ally and super donor of Trump, who has been under fire since last year for slow mail delivery.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (Raja Krishnamoorthi) heard this kind of music and called on Biden to reorganize the board of directors. Krishnamoorthi, who is a member of the House Oversight Committee, has always been a well-known critic of DeJoy. He urged the current post office chairman to remove Dejoy; when the chairman refused, Krishnamurti also called on Biden to replace him. This is what Biden did on Friday.

The congressman told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that he didn't know the president would act so soon, but he hoped that the newly formed board of directors would be able to vote on DeJoy's future shortly after the start of the new year.

Krishanmoorthi told Maddow: "We have received more complaints than any other issue we have talked about in the government. Thousands of complaints about slower mail delivery and higher prices."

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With the "Better Rebuild Bill" submitted to the Senate, one of the unresolved issues is how the large-scale budget settlement bill will address changes in the immigration system. As we pointed out, the House version will allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain work permits, pay taxes, be protected from deportation and international travel.

This has not reached the level that many immigration advocates or Democratic lawmakers hoped. Many people have been pushing for a complete path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Members of the Senate have twice ruled that these types of regulations violate the Senate’s rules on what can be included in budget-related bills.

Now, U.S. Rep. Jesus "Choi" Garcia and more than 80 other House Democrats are pushing Senate Democratic leaders, including U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, the Illinois man who presides on the Judiciary Committee, to remove them anyway. included.

"The role of parliamentarians is an advisory role, and the opinions of parliamentarians are not binding," they said in a letter. "We can't let unelected consultants decide which promises we fulfill and which we don't fulfill, especially when the vast majority of Americans — both parties — want us to provide a way to obtain citizenship.”

Other Illinois legislators who signed this letter include U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, Bradley Schneider, Bill Foster, Jan Shakowski, Mike Quigley, Dan Ni Davis and Mary Newman. All are Democrats.

Of course, it is not Durbin who needs persuasiveness. Durbin has always supported reforming immigration laws and providing access to citizenship. But veto members need a majority of the Senate, that is, every Democratic senator. However, US Senator Joe Manchin told Fox News earlier this month that he would not vote against her.

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger is not yet ready to announce his political future plans-looking forward to news in January-but if it is possible to run for governor, he will see a clear path for himself.

In his opinion, the current Republican candidate for governor is “a bit not so good,” he shared this view in a podcast interview, which will be released in its entirety on November 30.

"If I run for governor," he told Crain's AD Quig, "I think I am the only candidate who can win, at least for now."

(Click on the photo above to listen to a snippet of Kinzinger's conversation with Crain's.)

Among the announced Republican candidates, Jinzinger (who did not rule out the possibility of running for governor in 2022) likes 37-year-old Silicon Valley venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan the most, calling him "full of energy." Kinsinger said that at the same time, Darren Bailey's campaign appeared to be to oppose the state's mask regulations. "That's great. Anything. That will make you win in Downstate. You can't win in Illinois."

But Kinsinger is very clear that his own main prospects may be bleak. "I realize that we are at a moment where some people would rather give up the chance to win the governorship of Illinois than vote for conservatives who don't like Donald Trump. This is a unique moment," he said. 

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"When you see this game in Illinois is far right, it’s a bit disappointing, and it’s not a far right state. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people tell me: as long as the base is activated, we can do it. Win Illinois. Well, listen: the base is very active, and unless we win back those suburbs, we can’t win Illinois, right? The Republicans have won the suburbs in the past."

What also frustrated Kinsinger is that this game may boil down to a battle of billionaires: Ken Griffin's preferred candidate and Governor JB Pritzker. "This is a possibility. You basically have two rich people funding this. It makes me sick. This is an area we must actively pursue, namely, campaign finance reform."

Soon after Crane reported Kinsinger’s remarks, another Republican congressman who was considered by some to be governor’s wood—the U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis—made things more interesting:

The full interview with King Singer will begin next Tuesday. Before that, check out the latest episode of "AD Q&A", the Tuesday edition of Crain's daily juice newsletter on power and politics: an in-depth conversation with Mayor Lori Lightfoot's right-hand man, Samir Mayekar.

• With the Latinos convening three special meetings, the city hall re-planning battle has intensified: To avoid the deadline for the re-division of the referendum approaching, three special city council meetings will be held next week. Greg Hinz of Crain provided details.

• Pritzker signs a new congressional map plan: Hinz explained that the proposal aims to transform the state from 13 Democrats and 5 Republican House members into a 14-3 split.

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