Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Monday said it was pivotal for Congress to pass both a bipartisan infrastructure bill and President Biden’s $3.5 trillion expansion of the federal safety net by the end of October, echoing a timetable set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Not every member will get everything he or she wanted,” Mr. Schumer wrote. “But at the end of the day, we will pass legislation that will dramatically improve the lives of the American people.”
Mr. Schumer set the deadline in a letter to his fellow Senate Democrats, arguing that time was running out for two of the White House’s key domestic priorities.
“From the very beginning, we knew the execution of the two-track legislative strategy for the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the [$3.5 trillion measure] would be difficult and, at times, messy,” wrote Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat.
The new deadline is only the latest after months of impasse. Both pieces of legislation face long odds because of Democratic disunity.
Far-left Democrats are refusing to approve the $1.2 trillion traditional infrastructure deal, focusing on roads and bridges, without a final agreement on the larger $3.5 trillion bill. The latter, however, faces strong opposition from moderate Democrats in the evenly split Senate, who argue that the size and scope of the package should be means-tested.
“I have been consistent in my belief that any expansion of social programs must be targeted to those in need, not expanded beyond what is fiscally possible,” said Sen. Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat and a key swing vote.
Progressives say that trimming the $3.5 trillion package by nearly $2 trillion, as Mr. Manchin and other moderates have proposed, is a non-starter.
“Cutting the president’s Build Back Better Act by $2 trillion would mean cutting long-overdue investments in paid leave, child care, health care, climate action, housing and education,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington state Democrat who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “These priorities are too important to get left behind.”
Mrs. Jayapal and other far-left Democrats are threatening to withhold their support from the bipartisan infrastructure deal, which Mr. Manchin helped craft, unless moderates drop their opposition to the $3.5 trillion measure.
The infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August, was slated to be brought for a vote last week. Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, was forced to pull the bill at the last minute because of progressive opposition.
Within the Senate, the situation is hardly any better. Mr. Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, another leading Democratic moderate, have delayed drafting the $3.5 trillion package. The maneuver has caused tensions to skyrocket among lawmakers.
“When you have 48 people on one side and the American people overwhelmingly on the same side, and one or two people on the other side, it is not appropriate for those couple of people to slow down progress,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent.
Dubbed as “human infrastructure,” Democratic leaders say the $3.5 trillion package complements the bipartisan infrastructure bill that focuses on roads, bridges, railway and airport projects. The bigger bill amounts to a wish list of liberal priorities such as proposals for climate change, tuition-free community college and expanded health care programs.
Given Republicans’ solid opposition, Democrats plan to pass the $3.5 trillion package via a special process known as budget reconciliation. It allows some spending and tax measures to avoid the Senate‘s 60-vote filibuster threshold and pass with a simple majority of 51 votes.
Since the Senate is evenly split between both parties, every single Democrat needs to be on board for the reconciliation package to succeed. At the moment, the passage of the bill is far from assured.
“We are trying to pass historic legislation to help American families and strengthen our democracy with the slimmest possible congressional majorities and a new Democratic
president,” wrote Mr. Schumer. “Doing big things in the Congress is hard. Doing really big things all at once is really, really hard.”
In his letter, the majority leader urged fellow Senate Democrats to put aside “differences and find the common ground within our party” to pass both bills.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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