Democrats want more government. Americans aren't so sure

Plus: The Jan. 6 committee moves forward against Steve Bannon [View this email online]( [NPR]( [President Biden speaks at a rally for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe] Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The Big Picture: A precarious position As Democrats [continue to negotiate]( over their stalled agenda on Capitol Hill, President Biden is suffering politically, especially with independents. And in a return to historical trends, a majority of Americans now say again that the government is trying to do too many things, a reversal from a year ago when a majority said the government should do more to try and solve problems, according to a [Gallup poll]( released this week. The shift [came largely from independents]( who jumped 19 percentage points in saying the government is trying to do too much. That's a pretty traditional stance for Americans. Just twice in the 29 years Gallup has asked the question have Americans said the government should do more — and that was right after 9/11 and at the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year. And while Biden and his allies say many of their proposals poll well individually, the broad sentiment against doing too much comes at just the wrong time for Democrats, who are trying to pass twin pieces of multitrillion-dollar legislation that would reform and add to the social safety net and rebuild infrastructure in ways that haven't been seen in decades. The country is also facing [supply]( and labor shortages in certain sectors, as well as [strikes]( with workers unhappy with their wages and standards of living, as the economy recovers from the pandemic. The morass Democrats seem to be stuck in is reverberating to the first big electoral test of the Biden presidency coming up in a couple weeks — the Virginia governor's race. Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe [complained this week]( that Democrats not showing they can get things done in Washington, D.C., is making his job harder, as is Biden not being as popular as McAuliffe would like in the commonwealth for him to do well. Meantime, Republicans' [enthusiasm is higher than Democrats']( in Virginia, a state that has trended bluer in the past 10 to 15 years, which is making the race closer than Democrats would like. It all sets the table for the precarious position Biden and Democrats are in, and the party needs something to boost its standing. One bright spot Democrats can look to is that new COVID cases and deaths [are on the decline again](. With that, Democrats hope the economy — and the president's standing — will be jump-started. But those are a lot of dominoes that have to fall into place. If they don't, their hold on power in Washington could be in jeopardy next year. — Domenico Montanaro, NPR’s senior political editor/correspondent --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- [Then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is seen in the halls of Capitol Hill in December 2017, surrounded by reporters.]( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images ICYMI: Top Stories Democrats’ spending bill dilemma: Centrist Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema [are the two holdouts preventing Democrats from passing]( President Biden's sweeping spending plans. If you ask other senators where compromise can be found or what they think could satisfy the two, they say the same thing: Ask them. That’s left Democratic leaders facing a tough task: cutting a trillion or more dollars from their plan for passing much of Biden's agenda [without undermining the policies they've pitched to voters](. Jan. 6 committee latest: The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol [issued a subpoena this week to Jeffrey Clark]( a former Justice Department official who had promised to pursue former President Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud. The panel also announced it was moving forward with [criminal contempt proceedings against Trump ally Steve Bannon]( who refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena. McCabe benefits settlement: The Justice Department has agreed to [restore full law enforcement benefits for former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe]( who was fired by the Trump administration hours before his retirement in 2018. The settlement resolves a civil lawsuit filed by McCabe, who argued that his firing was the result of a "years-long public vendetta" driven by former President Donald Trump. Boston bomber case: The Supreme Court heard arguments this week [in the case of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev](. The question in the case is not Tsarnaev's guilt, but whether he was properly sentenced to death, and whether he had a fair trial. Though the court's liberal justices were incredulous about the actions of the district court judge in the original trial, [the court appeared to lean toward reinstating the death sentence](. U.S. lifts travel restrictions: The White House announced that [foreign tourists will be allowed back into the U.S. starting Nov. 8]( as long as they provide proof of being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Business travelers — who have not been affected by the ban — will have to be fully vaccinated by January. — Brandon Carter, NPR Politics social media producer --------------------------------------------------------------- [ Lowrider rides on three-wheels on Sunset Blvd., in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles in July.]( Damian Dovarganes/AP Going Deeper Lowriders unite: Lowriding rose in popularity among Latinos in California in the late-1970s. At the same time, lowriders also increasingly became the targets of police. [Here’s the story of a group in San Francisco that organized to fight police harassment — and won](. Breakthrough data: New evidence suggests that breakthrough COVID-19 infections in people who are fully vaccinated might not represent the threat to others that scientists originally thought. [Here’s why fully vaccinated people probably don’t transmit the virus as easily](. — Dana Farrington, NPR Politics digital editor --------------------------------------------------------------- [A couple sunbathes on ice at the Kapchagay reservoir in Almaty, Kazakhstan.]( Alexandr Vlassyuk The Shot: Award-winning drone images If you ever wondered what our planet looks like from the sky, [here is a fantastic view](. The winning images of this year’s Drone Photo Awards show the world in a new light, where a field in Vietnam looks like faux fur, and a frozen reservoir in Kazakhstan resembles shards of broken glass. It may not be politics, but it’s always nice to take a step back — or up. — Dana Farrington, NPR Politics digital editor [See more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? 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