Chris Carney Discusses the Impact of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's Retirement on Biden Agenda

Chris Carney was interviewed by The Hill for the article “Breyer Retirement Latest Complication For Biden Spending Bill.” The article examines the potential impact of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s pending retirement on efforts to get key elements of President Biden’s agenda passed in what may be the last months Democrats fully control Congress.

While the opportunity to appoint a replacement for Breyer is a win for the Biden administration, the timing of his retirement announcement, nine months before midterm elections, could have a negative impact on Biden and Democratic leaders' efforts to get Biden's climate and social spending proposal, Build Back Better, passed and signed into law.

Commenting on the issue, Chris said, “All politics is a billiards game of calculating the angles, reducing the unintended consequences and making the shot. Expect Senate Democrats and Republicans to calculate how a Supreme Court nomination process affects the rest of Biden’s BBB agenda.”

Chris represented Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District for two terms and was a tenured professor of political science specializing in international relations at Penn State University. Prior to running for Congress, he worked at the Pentagon for four years on strategic analysis of the global terrorist threat, ran the Department of Defense’s Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group (PCTEG) and was the “Special Projects” intelligence officer for two tours during Operation Southern Watch. Chris received a Presidential appointment as a Commissioner on the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission (MCRMC) and served as a Senior Intelligence Specialist at NAI2O.