’All hands on deck’: SC’s Clyburn talks Biden, the midterms and his own political future

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said President Joe Biden has a lot to brag about in his first two years in office, but said not enough administration officials and Democrats are talking about it ahead the midterms.

“There’s some amazing stuff that we’ve done and I’m not seeing anybody talking about it,” South Carolina’s top Democrat and the third-ranking Democrat in the House told The State newspaper Thursday night in an exclusive interview.

Clyburn said more administration and party members need to be promoting the work done in the last 19 months.

He named administration accomplishments like the American Rescue Plan Act, a bipartisan infrastructure bill; the CHIPS and Science Act; the Inflation Reduction Act; a bipartisan gun safety bill; and the PACT Act to help veterans exposed to burn pits as examples of Democrats should be telling voters more about.

“Now they decided, ‘Well, I saw that per gallon gasoline (price) is now going down for the ninth week in a row.’ So everybody’s blaming him and it was going up. Who gets the credit for it going down?” Clyburn said.

Clyburn spoke to the newspaper Thursday ahead of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s Washington Night, explaining what Democrats should be doing ahead of the midterms, Biden’s biggest accomplishments and his own political future.

“I think they (the White House) need to be doing exactly what they’re doing, but I think more people need to be doing it,” Clyburn said. “Just the president getting out there is not going to carry that message. It’s got to be all hands on deck. The president needs to stay at the 30,000-foot-level and the rest of us need to be out here. Let the president continue laying out a vision. I think the president needs to be talking about what we’re going to build upon this platform that we’ve now laid out.”

Clyburn also touched on complaints he’s heard from Democrats across the country about the lack of White House outreach, calling those who have complained impatient. And he noted the Democrats who, despite early in the administration questioned Biden’s capabilities, now comment how successful legislatively Biden’s first term has been.

“People can’t wait for the process to work before they form opinions,” Clyburn said. “The process yields the unexpected. The biggest success story that they’ve ever seen, they ain’t saying a damn thing. They had a whole lot to say before the process got started. The process is over now, and what are they saying?”

Clyburn says work remains

Clyburn told The State there is more work to be done in Washington.

The Inflation Reduction Act, for example, caps insulin costs for those on Medicare at $35 a month. Clyburn said he wants to see it expanded to all people — not only senior citizens. Lowering the cost of insulin is important to Clyburn, he said Thursday, because his late wife Emily had diabetes.

And, he said, while proud of Biden’s continued push to diversify the federal bench, Clyburn said he’s looking forward to more minorities being confirmed to judgeships.

Biden has appointed more women and racially diverse lawyers to federal judicial positions, according to an analysis by the American Bar Association.

With support from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Clyburn was able to watch Judge Michelle Childs, now on the D.C. District Appeals Court, get placed on Biden’s short list for the U.S. Supreme Court after he promised to nominate a Black woman to the highest court in the land.

Biden has also followed Clyburn’s recommendation and nominated South Carolina Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, the wife of former Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, to the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals.

Clyburn said he will stay out of the confirmation process.

“I don’t play the game for them. I put them in the game. I’m not playing the game for them. That’s not my job,” Clyburn said. “I’ve known DeAndrea since she was a child, and I think she is a remarkable woman. She has demonstrated tremendous judicial temperament, and I think she’ll make one heck of an appeals court judge.”

Will Clyburn run in 2024?

Clyburn said he is remaining active ahead of the midterm elections by helping fellow Democrats around the country as Republicans look to retake control of the House in November.

After the House passed the Inflation Reduction Act, Clyburn went to Kansas to help U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, and he has plans to help the Democratic Party in Missouri and campaign for Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan, who faces Trump-backed J.D. Vance.

“I only go if people request my presence and, unfortunately, I cannot go everywhere,” Clyburn said. “If I get requests, I’ll make up my mind. I do mostly South Carolina (stuff) through the party. I do help the party. I do have some fundraising capabilities and I do a lot of fundraising for the state party.”

Clyburn, who turned 82 in July, said he’ll stay in the job as long as the 6th District voters want him in office and as long as his daughters think he has the capacity to continue.

“I respond to three people: those three daughters of mine, my own personal feelings and what I hear from constituents,” Clyburn said. “So I’m not making plans beyond that.”

When asked about running for reelection in 2024, Clyburn said, “I don’t know about that. We’ll see what happens after 2022.”